Gyrodyne draws protests from Brookhaven, Smithtown residents

Brookhaven and Smithtown residents opposed to a plan to develop the 75-acre Gyrodyne property in St. James rallied Monday outside the property gates, a day before the Suffolk County Legislature was scheduled to take up again a bill ordering a comprehensive planning study for the Route 25A corridor.   

The former defense contractor’s proposal for uses such as a hotel, assisted living and medical offices has polarized residents and elected officials from surrounding communities. Some are eager for the taxes development could generate, along with other benefits like a proposed sewage treatment plant that could serve the site and downtown St. James. Others are wary of added traffic and ecological threats from chemicals that may have been used at the site and from the proposed treatment plant whose effluent, they say, could contaminate Stony Brook Harbor.    

Citing a Newsday series last month about a toxic plume emanating from the former Grumman Aerospace site in Bethpage, residents at the rally called for an in-depth, independent study of possible toxic pollution on the Gyrodyne site.

"They all left a legacy of toxic plumes," Nesconset resident James Bouklas said, referring to Grumman and shuttered Port Jefferson Station airplane parts manufacturer Lawrence Aviation Corp.  "We have to stay awake at night wondering whether our local officials got it right. ... We hope to God we don't pay for their potential mistakes."

In a statement, Smithtown Supervisor Edward Wehrheim said additional review is not necessary.

"The town's planning, engineering & environment experts are more than capable of doing its review as is standard operating procedure," he said.

The bill from Legis. Kara Hahn (D-Setauket), which the legislature is scheduled to take up Tuesday,  would mandate a county study of the “cumulative impacts” of development in the area, analyzing both vacant and preserved parcels and potential buildout. 

It would not affect Smithtown’s ongoing state-mandated environmental review of the Gyrodyne proposal, but Hahn said it was intended to be a tool for review by the county planning commission and the local sewer district. Head of the Harbor Mayor Douglas Dahlgard, whose village is adjacent to the Gyrodyne site, said he supported the bill in a letter posted on the village website late last week.

At a legislature hearing earlier this year, J. Timothy Shea, a Hauppauge lawyer representing Gyrodyne, called the measure “an attempt to confuse issues and wrest control from the Town of Smithtown,” arguing in an accompanying letter against any attempt to revisit earlier county approvals of the project. Shea did not return a call for comment Monday.

Legislators tabled the bill at a February meeting after Legis. Robert Trotta (R-Fort Salonga) and Leslie Kennedy (R-Nesconset) expressed skepticism, and Hahn said in a Monday interview that the vacancy opened by Presiding Officer DuWayne Gregory’s resignation would likely keep passage out of reach. A special election to fill that seat could change the vote count in coming weeks, she said, adding that she was “hopeful some of my Brookhaven colleagues might recognize that I have the support” of Republican Brookhaven Supervisor Edward Romaine, who has said his town needs to share in oversight of an application that could affect its residents.

Legis. Tom Cilmi (R-Bay Shore), whose district includes portions of Brookhaven, said in an interview Monday that Gyrodyne executives had presented “a reasonable plan for limited development” and that he would take his lead from Trotta, who represents the district where Gyrodyne is located. 

Trotta, in an interview Monday, said that the light industrial zoning that covers most of the Gyrodyne site made the property too expensive for the county to buy and preserve, and that development was inevitable. 

Hahn’s bill only “clutters” that process, he said. “I’m a realist. Gyrodyne has always been a decent neighbor. I’m just hoping they move the sewage treatment plant somewhere else.” 

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.com,nicholas.spangler@newsday.comCarlMacGowan,

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.