Calverton Aviation and Technology

The Riverhead IDA is scheduled to take up a resolution Monday evening deciding Calverton Aviation & Technology's financial capability to develop the Calverton Enterprise Park— a decision crucial to how Riverhead's $40 million land deal proceeds — or whether it proceeds at all.

Guest column: As Election Day approaches, Town Board members are telling us there will be no cargo airport and belittling those of us who oppose this plan, saying we are simply 'fear mongering.' The people of Riverhead are not stupid.

Letter to the Editor: A few weeks before Election Day, they get all chesty and make disingenuous stump speeches. Where were they for the past two years?

CAT has backed away from its air cargo proposal for EPCAL and now says its development plan is in flux. The IDA's review of CAT's application for tax breaks in the absence of a firm plan is improper, the chairperson of the State Senate's government watchdog committee said. First District Sen. Anthony Palumbo, a member of that committee, agreed.

The New Jersey megamall owned by Triple Five, which is in contract through another affiliate company to purchase more than 1,600 acres of industrial land in Calverton from Riverhead Town, had $245 million in operating losses last year, security filings released this week shows.

Supervisor Yvette Aguiar raised concerns last week about when the town would receive the balance of its $40 million for land at the Calverton Enterprise Park, if the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency moves the town's deal with Calverton Aviation and Technology forward.

Riverhead Industrial Development Agency board members on Wednesday questioned representatives of the Triple Five affiliate in contract to buy more than 1,600 acres at Calverton Enterprise Park from Riverhead Town about the company’s finances, bringing what has primarily been a closed-door vetting process out into the public eye.

Calverton Aviation & Technology will attend another public information session with the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency to discuss plans for the EPCAL site, the Riverhead IDA announced in a press release issued last night.

CAT has been conducting a gaslighting campaign since its Sept. 21 presentation to the Riverhead IDA sparked public outcry over a proposed air cargo use at the EPCAL facility in Calverton.

Guest column: What was actually revealed last night was an unwillingness to acknowledge the obvious: that our current decision-makers lack the confidence and competency to either own or fix the problem that is EPCAL. With a staggeringly bad result.