Application for Fort Salonga drug, alcohol rehab facility withdrawn before hearing

An application for a drug and alcohol addiction treatment facility in Fort Salonga was withdrawn before a crucial hearing this week.

The proposal for the 50-bed facility had elicited opposition from neighbors and a local civic group who said it was inappropriate for their residential area.

Vincent Trimarco, a land use attorney for 20 Sunken Meadow Holdings LLC, the company that takes its name from the address of the proposed facility in Smithtown, withdrew the application Tuesday morning in advance of a scheduled Board of Zoning Appeals hearing Tuesday night.

"Due to unforeseen circumstances, the applicants are unable to proceed with the application at this time," Trimarco wrote in letter to the board. In a phone interview Tuesday, Trimarco said his clients were "not ready" for a hearing but could ask for one in the future. He said he did not know their specific reasons for withdrawing.

John Bonlarron and William Alvaro are members of the company. Bonlarron could not be reached for comment. Alvaro did not respond to a request for comment.

The proposed facility on a 5.6-acre site was occupied for much of the last century by Charlie Murphy’s Residence, another rehabilitation facility. Since the area is now zoned residential, Bonlarron and Alvaro planned to ask for a certificate of existing use to maintain the main building and several accessory buildings.

But they would have faced a potential torrent of opposition at a public hearing. More than two dozen neighbors have written letters to Smithtown officials opposing the facility, some arguing that the site’s proximity to a Kings Park elementary school about a third of a mile away posed a danger to students.

Neighbors also argued that Charlie Murphy’s closure following a 2016 fire would make any certificate of existing use invalid.

"We had a huge turnout from the public saying that this is not the right thing for Fort Salonga," said Keith Macartney, president of the Fort Salonga Association, a civic group that opposed the application and encouraged its members to use phone calls and letters to pressure town officials to reject the application.

Smithtown planner Peter Hans said Trimarco had asked zoning appeals board members last week to adjourn the hearing to a later date but they declined. He said it was unusual but not unprecedented for an applicant to withdraw an application before a public hearing.

"It doesn’t prevent them from coming back," he said. "It doesn’t mean they won’t modify [the application], or they could come in with something compliant with zoning, like a residential subdivision."

By Nicholas Spangler

nicholas.spangler@newsday.comspanglernewsday

Nicholas Spangler is a general assignment reporter and has worked at Newsday since 2010.