Judge tosses suit filed by Hauppauge school district over industrial park development
The Hauppauge school district had sued the Town of Smithtown over rezoning for apartments. Credit: Howard Simmons
A Suffolk County Supreme Court judge has dismissed the Hauppauge Union Free School District’s lawsuit against Smithtown over zoning that allows residential development of Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge.
Smithtown Supervisor Edward Wehrheim told Newsday last year that the zoning could clear the way for as many as 1,000 apartments in the former industrial park; a document that was part of the town’s subsequent environmental review put the number at 1,824. Those apartments would be built over years in multiple projects, and some of the new occupants could be school-age children who would be educated in Hauppauge schools.
Lawyers for the Hauppauge school district argued in a suit last December that the zoning was harmful because district staffers could not know how it would affect busing and student services.
Judge H. Patrick Leis said in his June 30 ruling from the bench that the district and its Board of Education president David Barshay did not have standing to sue the town because their claims hinged on the "uncertainty of what local law will mean to the school district," not allegations of specific harm, according to a court transcript shared with Newsday by the town attorney’s office.
District lawyers alleged that the town did "such a terrible job" on part of its mandated review of the zoning — called an environmental assessment form, or EAF — that there was no way to determine potential harm, said Leis, summarizing their arguments.
But, Leis said, it would be up to a higher court, not him, to punish "what could be considered a scant and lacking EAF" by granting the district standing to sue.
"The school district is disappointed the judge dismissed this on procedural grounds" and is "weighing its options" for a possible appeal, said Linda Agnew, a Melville-based lawyer representing the district. "The town basically authorized a segmented review of the project, which is antithetical to the basic tenets" of state environmental law, she said.
Wehrheim did not respond to a request for comment.
Wehrheim and Innovation Park business leaders have said new zoning is important to revitalize the park and to provide housing for its workers.
The park is a major regional economic driver. Its businesses pay roughly half the Hauppauge district’s $90 million tax levy, allowing it to maintain one of Long Island’s lowest residential property tax rates; they also compose a significant portion of the town’s commercial tax base.
Nicholas Spangler is a general assignment reporter and has worked at Newsday since 2010.
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