Lawsuit Filed Against St. James Gyrodyne Subdivision Plan

The St. James Neighborhood Preservation Coalition and the village of the Head of the Harbor, in addition to twenty-three local property owners, have filed a lawsuit in the Suffolk County Supreme Court to halt the plan of the subdivision of the 75-acre Gyrodyne property in Smithtown. The plan to divide the property included the use of the property for an assisted living facility with 250 units, offices and a multi-story 125 room hotel. The Smithtown planning board had approved the plan on April 30, 2022.

Joseph Bollhofer of the Head of the Harbor zoning board expressed his dissent at the planning. He asserted that the plan was in violation of the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act, which requires governmental environmental impact assessments of local projects, and the mitigation of any discovered environmental problems.

St. James residents claim that the plan would result in abnormal increases in traffic and remove large amounts of open space. However, Gyrodyne claims that the plan includes “ improved traffic flow and community safety measures” and the maintenance of “landscaping and natural buffers.” However, the suit alleges that the traffic designs were based on an outdated study from 2017.

According to the Town of Smithtown’s Final Environmental Impact Statement regarding the plan, “the increase in traffic volume and the mitigation plans proposed in the DEIS represent a
deterioration of the rural character of the NYS Route 25A corridor” and that residents “will be significantly affected by the added traffic.”

According to the opponents of the plan, Gyrodyne privately modified its plan after the Environmental Impact Statement was issued, adding “30 additional housing units, 45,000 additional square feet of office space, and a 4,000 square foot, 133 seat multi-purpose room.” They state that a supplementary environmental impact assessment should be made according to the Environmental Quality Review Act.

The coalition uses “Save Flowerfield Fairgrounds” as their slogan, referring to the large amount of open space that will be eliminated as part of the plan. It also claims that the plan “would devastate Mills Pond National Historic District.” It also declares that the plan “will destroy the character of our community forever.”

According to the expert opinion of local land appraiser Gary Taylor, who testified at a 2010 trial for Gyrodyne, the land would be better suited for residential development rather than industrial development. Additionally, he stated that the winding roads leading to the property would not be sufficient for the current development plan.

A sewage treatment plant is also planned for the land, which has raised concerns by both residents and officials. Mayor Douglas Dahlgard of Head of the Harbor village, in addition to the St. James Coalition and the Greater Stony Brook Action Coalition, has claimed that the sewage plant would cause pollutants to enter the environment of Stony Brook harbor, which may impact the drinking water wells of Head of the Harbor.

Gyrodyne claims on its website that the “new state-of-the-art advanced” treatment plant would “ provide new possibilities for local growth.” They believe that “the cost of doing nothing and foregoing development will result in further degradation of Stony Brook harbor under current entitlements.”

Both the St. James Coalition and We Are Smithtown, a Smithtown civic organization, in addition to multiple Head of the Harbor trustees, claims that the Gyrodyne development does not conform to the Smithtown Comprehensive Master Plan, which is currently still being developed and passed. The St. James Coalition is requesting the town board to enact a moratorium on any development projects being passed until the new Comprehensive Plan is implemented. It is also asking for the town to revert the Gyrodyne site to residential zoning.

The draft Comprehensive Master Plan includes detailed planning for all zones of Smithtown, including St. James. It includes encouragement of residential development in St. James as well as the maintenance of its “historic character.”

The coalition has designed an alternative plan for the land, which roughly divides the area into two halves, one for commercial development and the other half as open space for recreation. According to the coalition, it would “cluster development on portions of the site that are already occupied by buildings and parking lots while preserving the 40-acre Flowerfield Fairgrounds as open space.” This plan has rapidly gained bipartisan popularity among local officials. Suffolk County legislators Rob Trotta(R), Kara Hahn(D), Assemblyman Steve Englebright(D), and Broohaven Supervisor Ed Romaine(R) have expressed support for this compromise plan. According to Head of the Harbor trustee Judith Ogden, the revised plan “would require relatively minor changes to Gyrodyne’s subdivision proposal but would address many of the community’s most serious concerns.”

Gyrodyne is a 70-year old company that has been developing land on Long Island. It also owns land on Cortlandt in Westchester County, which is currently being used as a medical center.