Plan to permit light industry in Kings Park

After 30 years of mostly futile attempts to fight industrial development in Kings Park, Town of Smithtown officials are trying a different approach.

They are considering a compromise that could resolve a conflict with property owners who operate industrial businesses in a section of the hamlet zoned mostly for housing. Attempts to enforce the zoning have been unsuccessful.

The plan would permit light industry, such as indoor factories, and outdoor storage of items such as building materials. In exchange, property owners would agree to discontinue heavy industry such as contracting and asphalt manufacturing.

Leaders of civic groups say they welcome the proposal, saying that some town control over the commercial properties is better than none. "We think that'll solve many of the problems," said Sean Lehmann, president of the Kings Park Civic Association. "It would bring the properties into compliance. It would allow the town to enforce it."

Residents have complained that the businesses cause odors and truck traffic. Homeowners may support the deal if it reduces those problems, said Bruce Ettenberg of the Commack Community Association.

The so-called Kings Park industrial park, a 2.4-mile stretch on Old Northport Road, has long posed a paradox for town officials. They face public pressure to enforce zoning laws, but court decisions since the 1980s said the firms could remain because they were established long before town zoning crackdowns. "[If] we take them to court," Councilman Edward Wehrheim said, "the courts throw it out and say, 'It's been going on for 50 years.' "

The town board last week awarded a $20,000 contract to Baldassano Architecture, of Ronkonkoma, to consider zoning options for Lawrence Road, on the industrial area's eastern end. If the change is adopted, it could be extended west to Townline Road, Wehrheim said.

One business owner, Anthony Leteri of USA Recycling on Lawrence Road, said revamped zoning may encourage property owners to erect more buildings, which have more tax value than undeveloped land. "We really need some [new] zoning," said Leteri, who is awaiting town approval of a zoning change allowing outdoor storage on land he owns. "The goal is to have non-nuisance industries and generate some tax revenue."

Supervisor Patrick Vecchio said he hopes to implement "a plan of intelligent development . . . which would include some form of correct, logical and acceptable commercial uses."