Former toxic site development's public comment period ends Friday

The public comment period on the draft environmental study for a proposed mixed-use development in Syosset ends Friday, town officials announced Tuesday.

Oyster Bay officials twice extended the deadline for input on the project, known as Syosset Park, in response to a groundswell of public concern over development at the former Superfund toxic waste site.

Syosset Park Development LLC — made up of Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group and Manhasset-based Castagna Realty Co. — wants to build 625 townhouses and condominiums, two hotels, a 30-acre park, stores, offices and restaurants at the former Cerro Wire site and adjacent town landfill.

The town will still accept comments on independent environmental testing at the site. That testing will be guided by a Citizen Advisory Committee announced by Oyster Bay Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino. The committee has yet to be formed; the town is accepting applications for it until Friday.

“We heard our residents loud and clear when they called for additional independent testing to be performed at this site, and the applicant has agreed to fund the work requested by residents,” Saladino said in a news release issued Tuesday. The advisory committee will accept public comments about the independent environmental testing through Jan. 31.

“The town will not accept a final study from the applicant until the public has been given the opportunity to fully review the testing plan and final results,” Saladino said in the release.

About 700 people jammed the Syosset High School auditorium and a nearby overflow room for a May 1 hearing on the project. Residents at that forum and at subsequent town board meetings have raised concerns about potential impacts development could have on public health and on the Syosset school district.