East Farmingdale warehouse proposal draws fight from residents
Donna Sutherland, who opposes a warehouse proposal in East Farmingdale, posed Friday with a note she is sharing with neighbors. Credit: Barry Sloan
Residents in an East Farmingdale neighborhood are fighting against plans to build a warehouse on Conklin Street, which they say is already congested with trucks.
San Francisco-based Prologis Inc. has proposed demolishing a shuttered bowling alley and an indoor soccer facility to build a 121,931-square-foot warehouse less than a half mile from the Route 110 intersection.
The application is pending before Babylon Town's planning board, which held a public hearing last month that drew dozens of upset residents. They included Donna Sutherland, who lives on a street across from the site.
“Conklin Street cannot handle 30 to 40 tractor trailers,” Sutherland, 55, said in an interview. “It’s just not even feasible what they’re trying to do.”
Other residents said while the site is zoned industrial, a warehouse would change how it's been used for decades.
“I’ve been living here for 50 years. There’s been a bowling alley and a soccer field for 50 years. It may be industrial but those two buildings are not industrial,” neighborhood resident Neal Swernofsky, 72, said in an interview.
Town planning Commissioner Rachel Scelfo said in an interview there are a “range of uses” permitted in industrial zoning but Babylon officials do “weigh how each application is going to impact the community.”
Company officials said the 39-foot high, one-story building would have 21 loading bays. Prologis doesn't know who potential tenants might be or the types of products that could be stored on the site, according to company spokeswoman Alana Victor.
“We are looking forward to the opportunity to build a high-quality warehouse that can support the local economy,” Victor added in an email.
A traffic study for Prologis by Nelson & Pope, a Melville-based engineering, architecture and surveying company, determined the warehouse, which would operate 24/7, wouldn't have a negative impact on traffic. The study said the business would generate an estimated 42 truck trips during weekday morning peak hours and 39 truck trips during weekday evening peak hours.
Farmingdale Village Mayor Ralph Ekstrand was among those who spoke out against the project at the hearing.
By the site, Conklin Street is a three-lane road that has one lane in each direction plus a middle turning lane that Ekstrand dubbed “the suicide lane” due to what he called the risk of head-on collisions.
“It’s going to be ludicrous,” Ekstrand said in an interview.
William Bonesso, a Uniondale attorney for Prologis, said at the hearing it's “very obvious that there is frustration” but “it shouldn’t be incumbent on the applicant to solve all the problems of a specific area.”
The company's spokeswoman said the warehouse would be the first Long Island location for the company, which says it has $2.7 trillion in goods moving through facilities in 19 countries.
Prologis bought the property in 2022 after the bowling alley, which had been there since 1959, closed in 2021.
U.S. Academy of Soccer opened on the site in 2010 and continues to operate. But Kaz Gungor, the business' owner, said in an interview his lease with Prologis is up in May and he's unsure if it will be extended.
The planning board will accept comments on the application until March 4, according to town officials.
If the planning board approves the project, it will go before the zoning board of appeals before a final vote after another public hearing.
Residents in an East Farmingdale neighborhood are fighting against plans to build a warehouse on Conklin Street, which they say is already congested with trucks.
San Francisco-based Prologis Inc. has proposed demolishing a shuttered bowling alley and an indoor soccer facility to build a 121,931-square-foot warehouse less than a half mile from the Route 110 intersection.
The application is pending before Babylon Town's planning board, which held a public hearing last month that drew dozens of upset residents. They included Donna Sutherland, who lives on a street across from the site.
“Conklin Street cannot handle 30 to 40 tractor trailers,” Sutherland, 55, said in an interview. “It’s just not even feasible what they’re trying to do.”
Warehouse proposal
- Build on site of indoor soccer complex and former bowling alley.
- 121,931-square-foot building with 21 loading bays.
- 42 peak weekday daytime truck trips.
- 39 peak weekday evening truck trips.
Other residents said while the site is zoned industrial, a warehouse would change how it's been used for decades.
“I’ve been living here for 50 years. There’s been a bowling alley and a soccer field for 50 years. It may be industrial but those two buildings are not industrial,” neighborhood resident Neal Swernofsky, 72, said in an interview.
Town planning Commissioner Rachel Scelfo said in an interview there are a “range of uses” permitted in industrial zoning but Babylon officials do “weigh how each application is going to impact the community.”
The site of a proposed warehouse in East Farmingdale. Credit: Barry Sloan
Company officials said the 39-foot high, one-story building would have 21 loading bays. Prologis doesn't know who potential tenants might be or the types of products that could be stored on the site, according to company spokeswoman Alana Victor.
“We are looking forward to the opportunity to build a high-quality warehouse that can support the local economy,” Victor added in an email.
A traffic study for Prologis by Nelson & Pope, a Melville-based engineering, architecture and surveying company, determined the warehouse, which would operate 24/7, wouldn't have a negative impact on traffic. The study said the business would generate an estimated 42 truck trips during weekday morning peak hours and 39 truck trips during weekday evening peak hours.
Farmingdale Village Mayor Ralph Ekstrand was among those who spoke out against the project at the hearing.
By the site, Conklin Street is a three-lane road that has one lane in each direction plus a middle turning lane that Ekstrand dubbed “the suicide lane” due to what he called the risk of head-on collisions.
“It’s going to be ludicrous,” Ekstrand said in an interview.
William Bonesso, a Uniondale attorney for Prologis, said at the hearing it's “very obvious that there is frustration” but “it shouldn’t be incumbent on the applicant to solve all the problems of a specific area.”
The company's spokeswoman said the warehouse would be the first Long Island location for the company, which says it has $2.7 trillion in goods moving through facilities in 19 countries.
Prologis bought the property in 2022 after the bowling alley, which had been there since 1959, closed in 2021.
U.S. Academy of Soccer opened on the site in 2010 and continues to operate. But Kaz Gungor, the business' owner, said in an interview his lease with Prologis is up in May and he's unsure if it will be extended.
The planning board will accept comments on the application until March 4, according to town officials.
If the planning board approves the project, it will go before the zoning board of appeals before a final vote after another public hearing.
Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.
