Hundreds Attend 2nd Heartland Project Public Hearing

Hundreds gathered at the Islip Town Hall last week to share their opinions on the Heartland Town Square Project.

A total of 144 local residents both for and against the project spoke out during the public hearing held on Wednesday.

The proposed project would create retail and office space as well as residential units on the Pilgrim State Psychiatric Center property in Brentwood. The project would cost local taxpayers a total of $3.7 million for the first five years of development.

The plan for the development, which would require a zone change for the area, will include building 9,000 apartments, 3.2 million square feet of office space as well as 1 million square feet of retail built over the next 32 year

At Wednesday's meeting Brentwood resident Elton George spoke out in favor of the project.

“This is what our community needs,” George said according to Long Island Business News (LIBN). “I’ve been living in this community for over 30 years and I think this is something that’s going to be awesome for our community.”

However, some local people like Commack resident Nancy Gamby were against the project.

Gamby spoke out siting that the development would make traffic unbearable.

“Twenty- to 30-thousand more people in a small area will exacerbate it even more,” she said, according to Newsday.

According to LIBN, most who opposed the project were from outside the Brentwood area.

The 450-acre property was purchased by Jerry Wolkoff back in 2002 for a total of $20 million and he has been trying to launch the development since then.

Last year, the Town Board approved a modified version of his plan and the Suffolk County Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend the zoning change.

Last Wednesday's public hearing was the second hearing in a month regarding the project.

In addition to the opinions of the hundreds who spoke at the meetings, the Town Board has received 1,600 comments submitted online through the Town’s website.

“This is one of the most important decisions to ever come before the Islip Town Board, and we have to ensure that the public is given every chance to be heard,” Supervisor Angie Carpenter said. “Last night we heard spirited comments from people and groups representing all interested parties, which is how the process is supposed to work in our Town.”

The submission period for online comments has ended.

However, anyone wishing to submit any additional comments may do so by mail through May 15 by mailing or delivering to the Islip Town Clerk at: Islip Town Hall, 655 Main Street, Islip, NY 11751. All comments received will be entered into the public record.

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