Suffolk County issues RFP to revitalize eight brownfield sites

A Request for Proposals has been issued by the Suffolk County Landbank to revitalize eight brownfield sites in Islip, Babylon and Smithtown, county officials have announced.

The sites have been tax-delinquent for an average of 19 years and all together owe over $11 million in taxes, according to a news release. What is set to be a public-private partnership “will help revitalize communities by returning blighted properties into productive, tax-paying parcels that would help create jobs and improve quality of life,” the news release states. More than $570,000 in yearly property taxes could be collected from the properties once they are back on the tax roll.

The sites include former businesses. In Bay Shore: Hubbard Power and Light; a gas station on Brentwood Road, and Serv-All Laundry; Lawrence Junkyard in Islip; Liberty Industrial Finishing in Brentwood; Stein and Giannott/Medigen in West Babylon; Jericho Marine in Lindenhurst and Steck-Philbin Landfill in Kings Park.

“We are thrilled to announce that these eight blighted, brownfield sites will soon be restored to productive use in their respective communities,” Suffolk County Legislature Presiding Officer DuWayne Gregory, who sponsored the legislation that created the Landbank, said in a statement.

The Landbank -- a not-for-profit established in 2013 that gives the county the ability to acquire and dispose of tax liens and/or redevelop tax-foreclosed properties -- allows the county to get control of brownfield and superfund sites, which are normally exempt from tax foreclosure due to “potential environmental liability,” the county states.

More than 70 property owners have come forward to pay back taxes under the program, totaling $4.5 million, the county states. The liens are sold at less than face value to developers who remediate and revitalize the sites.

The request for proposals can be found at suffolkcountylandbank.org and are due March 18.