Edward Wehrheim promises 'different type of Smithtown government'

Smithtown Supervisor Edward Wehrheim last week promised a “different type of Smithtown government” that would aggressively promote private business investment.

“We are going to bring Smithtown into the future so we can all prosper,” said to business leaders at a Greater Smithtown Chamber of Commerce meeting at the Chop Shop Bar & Grill in downtown Smithtown on Wednesday. “We will work together to accomplish things.”

The supervisor’s comments, two months into his administration, came with several significant deals in the works. Tesla, the electric-car maker, is moving ahead with plans to rent the vacant Sixth Avenue Electronics site in Nesconset; CarMax is bound for Smithtown Concrete in St. James; and Spanish soccer superclub FC Barcelona plans to open a youth training site on Old Northport Road in Kings Park.

Wehrheim said that the $60 million soccer club project would be an “absolute boon” to town businesses. He touched too on a $9.5 million town capital funding plan, adopted last month, that calls for major infrastructure improvements in downtown St. James, along with master plan development and town code revisions focused on building and zoning codes.

The remarks “sounded fantastic” to chamber president Robert Cartelli, owner of Outstanding Plumbing and Heating in downtown Smithtown. Cartelli said he was especially pleased to hear about plans to “rework some sites that are sitting abandoned, not bringing anything to the tax rolls, not bringing anything to the greater downtowns.”