TV filming to temporarily close Bayville Bridge on Wednesday

Nassau County plans to close the Bayville Bridge for five hours Wednesday for the filming of an episode of the TV series "The Blacklist."

While some North Shore residents are unhappy about making a 10-minute detour through Lattingtown from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., others and government officials say the disruption will be minor and is outweighed by the economic benefits and publicity.

"It's good for the county economy to have film projects here because they use local catering and provide money and jobs," said Peter Quick, mayor of Mill Neck, on the southern end of the span.

The production company for the NBC crime drama starring James Spader is also paying $2,000 to the county, $3,500 to Mill Neck and $2,500 to Bayville. It is not known which actors will be on the set.

Douglas Watson, mayor of Bayville, on the north side, said hosting the production "casts a good light on the area, and it's kind of exciting."

The closing is a sore point for some Bayville, Mill Neck and Centre Island residents who remember making the detour while the bridge and West Shore Road to the south were closed for eight months due to damage from superstorm Sandy.

"It's unconscionable to inconvenience so many people so that some production company can take advantage of us," said John Taylor, a Bayville civic leader who had criticized the county over the length of the West Shore Road closure. "It's total nonsense if anyone says it benefits the village because of positive exposure."

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Nassau public works spokesman Michael Martino said the county film commission worked with the show's producers "and obtained approvals from the local fire department, civic associations and municipalities. The closing is coordinated by the Nassau County Police Department, the Department of Public Works and local villages."

"If you leave Bayville and go to work in the morning and you come home in the afternoon, you won't even know that anything went on," Watson said. He added that many films and shows have been shot in the village in recent years and "it doesn't inconvenience anybody."

The county plans to open the bridge if necessary for emergency vehicles, he said.

"I haven't heard any blowback," Quick said. "People are just adjusting their schedules."