Kings Park sewer plan expected to spur commercial growth in downtown areas

Smithtown leaders and many — but not all — Kings Park businesspeople say a downtown sewer plan that won overwhelming voter approval last month will spark growth.

The 87-1 vote will make way for new or expanded commercial uses like restaurants, cafes and bars and potentially dozens of apartments, clearing Suffolk County to deploy $20 million in New York State grant money to lay 10,000 feet of pipe officials say will come online by spring 2025.

That pipe will extend an existing system created to serve Kings Park Psychiatric Hospital, area medical facilities and hundreds of homes. It will serve 105 downtown business parcels, a handful of homes and the 144-unit Kings Wood cooperative complex.

Limitations of septics and cesspools now used have frustrated downtown development for decades, sewer advocates say, depressing commercial rents and discouraging landlords from making improvements to aging buildings.

Some area merchants are skeptical of a plan they say could disrupt traffic and primarily benefit a handful of popular restaurants near Main Street.

But the plan has powerful advocates in business and civic leaders including Linda Henninger, Kings Park Civic Association president. Smithtown Supervisor Edward Wehrheim is working with the county and state on plans for building sewers in business districts in St. James and Smithtown, and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone’s administration has pushed the Kings Park project from the start.

"In the absence of sewers, many of the historic downtown areas have languished," Deputy County Supervisor Peter Scully said. "We see in downtown communities that have sewer capacity — notably Patchogue, Huntington Village, Port Jefferson — those communities have flourished. That’s exactly the type of economic vitality we’re hoping to bring."

Area commercial rents, now around $22 per square foot, could push toward the $35 found in some nearby downtowns in coming years, said Larry Flynn, a real estate agent whose office is on Main Street.

Eric Alexander, director of the smart growth group Vision Long Island, said he expected many of the commercial parcels would eventually house restaurants and bars. "That’s what’s driving economic development" on Long Island, he said, attracting customers in search of "authentic, diverse" experiences they don’t find online or in malls.

Tony Tanzi, a landlord and Kings Park Chamber of Commerce president, said he was considering building apartments near the hamlet rail station but that he expected all eight of his downtown properties would benefit from increased demand. "For every dry use that comes along, say, I get two or three inquiries" for restaurants and cafes that he turns away because of wastewater restrictions. "Those types of businesses can pay more in rent because they do better in a downtown setting than a lot of dry uses" with higher rents funding building improvements.

Enough of those restaurants together, offering an array of choices, could turn the hamlet into a destination, said Todd Feldman, owner of Legends Bar & Grill. "I don’t look at it as competition — it’s building the neighborhood."

Some merchants are anxious, though. Bill Stewart, owner of LI Toy & Game, predicted rents would increase to pay for system hookups, along with roadwork that would make it hard for his customers to reach him. The coming sewer system "doesn’t do anything for my business," he said.

By Nicholas Spangler

nicholas.spangler@newsday.comspanglernewsday

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