7 regional projects tapped for funding

A key committee will recommend seven regional development projects for public and private funding -- including the Ronkonkoma Hub-Long Island MacArthur Airport redevelopment, sources said.

The $4 billion mixed-use Brentwood-based Heartland Town Square proposal is not included in the projects endorsed by the infrastructure working group, a subcommittee of the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council, which was appointed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

The subcommittee met Wednesday to decide on recommendations for the council's strategic plan and to categorize more than a dozen development proposals on Long Island. The full council, co-chaired by Long Island Association president Kevin Law and Hofstra University president Stuart Rabinowitz, is scheduled to meet Tuesday to hear subcommittee recommendations.

Five members of the 36-member group told Newsday that while the group agreed Heartland met the "transformative" criteria for projects that Cuomo may select in December, it was not considered "ready to go."

Questions were raised about hurdles Heartland faces -- including financing and agreements with organized labor, four of those present said.

The six other projects that received the subcommittee's recommendation are: a Long Island Rail Road proposal to add a second track between Farmingdale and Ronkonkoma; Wyandanch Rising/the 110 corridor; a clutch of three Glen Cove projects (the piazza, the ferry terminal and the Glen Isle waterfront housing development); Nassau University Medical Center's new campus improvements; the Calverton rail freight development; and the Brookhaven National Lab-Yaphank Meadows project.

Heartland developer Gerald Wolkoff said Thursday the subcommittee had been influenced by the Long Island Federation of Labor and the head of the Building Trades Council of Nassau and Suffolk Counties to make a decision that was wrong-footed and political.

"They are holding up my project and stopping people from going to work," he said, adding the subcommittee had selected projects less ready-to-go than Heartland.

"The Ronkonkoma Hub project doesn't even have a developer yet -- or a sewer plant -- for example," he said. "My project creates jobs -- I'm the largest job creator of all the projects put together."

But Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri, a subcommittee member also present, said Wednesday's 90-minute meeting was "thoughtful and deliberative" and analyzed each of the projects for their economic benefit and job creation potential.

"The committee is advisory only, and there were careful and considered discussions on each one of the projects in a way that I think gave each project its due," he said.

The Nassau Hub project was not included in the subcommittee's decision-making -- it will be considered separately by the council, which must submit its priorities for funding to Albany by Nov. 14.