Sewer line for downtown Wyandanch praised at meeting

A Babylon town hearing on a proposed sewer line for Wyandanch drew nearly a dozen speakers Friday morning, almost all of whom spoke in favor of the project.

Proponents commended the town and said the sewer line - part of the town's massive downtown Wyandanch revitalization project - would help bring development and jobs to the downtown, as well as protect groundwater. But some speakers wanted to know the overall cost of the project to taxpayers.

The sewer line is estimated to cost $18 million. It would consist of two parts: one running to the downtown and another to the town's ashfill. Supervisor Steve Bellone said the latter part - paid for with $3 million from the town's garbage district fund - will save the town $500,000 a year it spends to truck and treat leachate, a liquid byproduct from the ashfill. The town has applied for $15 million in low-interest financing from the state Environmental Facilities Corp. for the downtown section of the pipe, and has approved $15 million in bonding as security for the financing.

Michael White, executive director of the Long Island Regional Planning Council, told the town board the project is "phenomenal" and "the epitome of smart growth on Long Island."

But Matt Groh, representing the Conservative Society for Action, blasted the town for the millions in bonds approved and asked how much the redevelopment would end up costing taxpayers.

"You keep floating one bond after another after another in a piecemeal process," he said. "Taxpayers are not informed about what this is going to cost."

Bellone did not give a cost but said revitalization provides an "enormous opportunity" to develop the large number of vacant lots in Wyandanch and beef up low tax rolls.

Charlie Reed, a board member of the Wyandanch Community Development Corp., said he has witnessed the "flight" of families and businesses from Wyandanch and applauded the revitalization.

"We recognize that there's a price tag," he said. "If we had to wait on the community itself to be able to afford that system, we would never, never be able to afford it."