Ballfields proposed at landfill site

Sand pits and landfills may give way to ballfields and batting cages at a Kings Park sand mine whose owner has paid nearly half a million dollars in state fines for illegal dumping and overexcavating at the site.

The sports facility, if approved by the Town of Smithtown, would bring four soccer fields, two baseball diamonds and indoor batting and golf cages to the intersection of Indian Head Road and Old Northport Road, where nearby properties include a golf driving range and an ice-skating rink.

Leagues and players would be charged for using the for-profit park, but rates have not been set.

Town officials and residents are skeptical about the proposal and want more information.

Their concern arises in part from the 44.5-acre property's dubious history: Santilli Commercial Developers Llc, the site's owner, paid the state a $200,000 fine in 2010 for dumping illegal solid waste there and a $275,000 fine in 2008 for overexcavating. Neighbors have complained in the past about dust from the site.

Company owner Anthony Santilli, 73, of Baldwin, aims to put that behind him, said his attorney, Leonard Shore of Commack.

"He really wants to be the least objectionable neighbor he can be," Shore said, adding of the site, "It's not the ideal neighbor to live next door to."

The site is a legal landfill under state Department of Environmental Control supervision. Construction debris such as concrete, brick, soil and rock is inspected before it is dumped at the site, a DEC spokesman said. It will take at least one more year of filling and regrading the site before development can begin, he said.

Members of the Kings Park Civic Association, who heard Shore and Santilli discuss the proposal Thursday, said they want more details before throwing their support behind the project.

J. Read Smith, the group's zoning committee chairman, said he worries that "permitting acres and acres of soccer fields will require massive amounts of fertilizer, pre-emergent weed control, insecticides [and] fungicide" that could seep into drinking water. An aquifer is directly beneath the Santilli site, he said.

Santilli is seeking a special-use permit to build on the site, which is zoned for industrial uses. The Smithtown Town Board will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. on Feb. 23 at the Smithtown Senior Citizens Center, 420 Middle Country Rd.

Smithtown Planning Director Frank DeRubeis said Santilli's plan "lacks a lot of details, and it would be impossible to make a judgment on whether to review it or approve it."

Smith said the plan submitted to town officials does not include restrooms. "Can you imagine having four soccer fields and two baseball fields and no bathroom facilities?" he said. "I personally don't believe we'll ever see soccer fields."

Plans for the project are incomplete and "fluid," Shore said, adding that a skateboarding park or more ballfields could be added to the proposal.