Plans for sewage treatment unclear in latest Gyrodyne subdivision proposal

The final environmental impact statement for subdivision of the 75-acre Gyrodyne property, one of the largest undeveloped parcels in Smithtown, eliminates a proposed restaurant and conference center and makes other smaller changes to the development mix proposed for the site.

But the four-volume document posted on the town website this month offers little new information about a proposed sewage treatment plant town officials have said could be built large enough to handle wastewater from the Lake Avenue St. James business district about a mile away. While former defense contractor Gyrodyne has "represented willingness to discuss a potential connection" if a sewer district is formed for that area, the company "has designed the STP without the intention of accepting outside flows," according to the report, prepared by a Gyrodyne consultant and reviewed by town environmental officials. STP is an acronym for a sewage treatment plant.

A spokeswoman for Suffolk County, which would manage any public treatment plant, wrote in an email that "the County has never been asked to consider the expansion of public sewers in the area using a larger plant at the Gyrodyne site."

Gyrodyne president Gary Fitlin did not respond to a request for comment.

Gyrodyne proposed a plant with a capacity of 100,000 gallons of wastewater per day, more than enough for the 87,591 gallons they expect their site to generate, but a bigger plant would be needed to also process 71,000 gallons per day expected from Lake Avenue.

The subdivision would include two lots with 175,000 square feet of office space, a third with a 125-room hotel and a fourth with a 250-unit assisted living facility. The existing catering hall and most of the light-industrial space would remain on two more lots. Lot 7 would be 15 acres of greenspace; lot 8, a little over 7 acres, would be devoted to the plant.

Public comment on the report runs through March 31. After review by town environmental officials, the Smithtown Planning Board could schedule a public hearing this spring on subdivision approval for eight lots. The Town Board would review individual site plans for proposed new uses.

Some Gyrodyne neighbors have said the proposed subdivision would lead to congested roads and pollution of nearby Stony Brook Harbor, arguments company representatives have said are not true, but the plan has support from others who see it as a fast track to business district sewers. Heightening the stakes is the town’s installation of a sewer line under Lake Avenue, completed recently with $3.9 million in grant funding, in anticipation of eventual hookup to a plant.

Earlier this month, the St. James-Head of the Harbor Neighborhood Preservation Coalition, represented by Head of the Harbor Village trustee Judy Ogden, faulted town officials for what she said were misleading statements about the ease of hookup at Gyrodyne and the difficulty of hooking up elsewhere.

"We need straight talk and a real plan to get businesses in Saint James connected to sewers," Ogden said in a release.

Town spokeswoman Nicole Garguilo said in an interview that "the town is going to take whichever path forward is the most efficient and has the best options for the community and the environment."

By Nicholas Spangler

nicholas.spangler@newsday.comspanglernewsday

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