Condo owners oppose nearby baking plant

As Inter-County Bakers works to ease concerns over its proposed move to a vacant state warehouse in Central Islip, neighbors of the facility are circulating a petition to scuttle it.

Residents of a condo development within 100 feet of the site say the proposal is out of step with the town's efforts to turn the area into a more residential, recreational neighborhood. They are circulating a petition urging the town to deny the re-zoning needed for the property to pass into private hands.

The concerns of the Courthouse Commons condo residents -- first voiced at a planning board meeting last month -- center on truck traffic. Inter-County owns 14 trucks, two vans and four tractor-trailer units that Inter-County president Ted Heim Jr. said will be loaded overnight and depart between 4:30 and 6 a.m. weekdays, with about 20 trucks a day making deliveries.

Heim said he doesn't want to bring his bakery goods distribution operation to an unwilling community. "A lot of the concerns of the immediate neighbors, I think, are jumping to conclusions," he said in an interview. "We're interested in being a good neighbor and supporting the community."

In the past week, the company has held talks with Islip Town planning staff, agreeing nighttime deliveries to the 136,000-square-foot warehouse will go to its northwest loading area, the farthest from nearby residences. There will be no idling for more than 10 minutes and none allowed between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m. Inter-County's own refrigerated trucks will plug in to the warehouse while loading and unloading.

The company will also pay a $1.50 per square-foot fee usually levied only on new construction, bringing a more than $200,000 windfall for the Central Islip Recreation Fund. Discussions are still underway, however, on truck routes to and from the 13-acre site at Courthouse and Eastview drives.

Town officials have acknowledged the fierce opposition has caught them off guard. But they are anxious to attract commercial business to the highly taxed residents of the Central Islip school district.

The town would confirm only that talks are ongoing. Its planning board must make a recommendation to the town board.

The state will sell the former Central Islip Psychiatric Hospital property for $5.7 million if the zone change is approved and has set a May 23 deadline