Developer of 100-acre industrial park in Wyandanch offers more than $2 million in givebacks to residents, but many unsatisfied 

A San Francisco-based developer is offering more than $2 million in givebacks to Wyandanch and Wheatley Heights residents as part of a proposed plan to build a 100-acre industrial park, but many residents remain unappeased. 

Bristol Group’s "Suffolk Technology Park" community benefits package includes $1 million in scholarship money, $350,000 toward renovations at the Family Life Center and turf fields in Wyandanch and nearly $200,000 toward beautification projects in Wyandanch and Wheatley Heights.

In addition, the company will include Wyandanch Memorial High School in its community solar initiative, which Bristol claims will create estimated annual savings of $150,000 for the school district.

Nearby residents will also benefit from solar panels at the park, earning credits on their electricity bill, Bristol attorney Bram Weber told residents at a Saturday morning public hearing last month. Weber called their offering the "largest community benefits package for a project this size in Long Island history."

Community benefits packages are often a component of large-scale apartment and commercial projects, serving as an attempt by developers to appease town officials and neighbors.

The park would be the biggest development in Babylon Town in decades and would require a new zone. It would have nine one-story buildings on 100 acres leased from Pinelawn Cemetery. The site runs from Little East Neck Road to North 28th Street and from south of Circle Drive to Long Island Avenue.

Some, including the town historian, have expressed concern for the impact the park may have on a historic cemetery that abuts the site. The cemetery, owned by Pinelawn, has 375 Black and Indigenous people buried in it.

Weber said the park will not be a "large logistics center" but instead will offer smaller office, assembly and warehouse space. 

Bristol has promised the park would create 767 construction jobs and 1,958 permanent jobs and generate $5.6 million annually in property taxes with $3.6 million going directly to the Wyandanch school district.

The park, located in Wyandanch but bordering a Wheatley Heights neighborhood, has generated some consternation between the two communities over givebacks and input.

Weber told Newsday that benefits given to the Concerned Taxpayers of Wheatley Heights/Dix Hills civic association, like those given to the town, were at their request. Bristol then extended the same benefits to the Concerned Citizens of Wyandanch. Over 25 years, each civic group would receive $155,000 plus $150,000 for holiday programs and $500,000 in scholarship money.

At last month’s hearing, residents raised concerns about truck traffic and the environmental impact of the park. But the issue of benefits was also front and center.

Wheatley Heights resident Sandra Thomas said Bristol had been "very, very responsive to our needs" but more was warranted.

"We feel the Wheatley Heights community should have some kind of capital gains benefit, such as sewers or even a gas line," she said. "Because the impact is going to be tremendous on us."

Wheatley Heights civic president Chris Black said Wyandanch was getting the better end of the deal.

"In Wyandanch you’re getting more tax incentives for the school, for the library, fire department ... ” Black said. "Wheatley Heights is not getting anything, but ... this small offering ... since we’re taking most of the burden of this project, we need to have more than what the others are getting."

But Wyandanch residents who would be living across from the industrial park said it was Wheatley Heights that was getting preferential treatment.

Jean Rodriguez, who lives on North 28th Street, noted that Bristol had met with residents on his street only once, compared to multiple meetings with Wheatley Heights. He said the site plan was changed to accommodate those residents with a recharge basin moved closer to North 28th Street without residents there being informed. Several North 28th Street residents expressed concerns about the basin.

"This plan flipped in their favor, so it really doesn’t benefit my community," Rodriguez said.

Weber told Newsday that Bristol met with the Wheatley Heights and Wyandanch civic groups multiple times and met with North 28th street residents "early in the project planning process" where concerns about a truck parking lot led to the lot being moved and the recharge basin put there instead. Weber said the basin will collect stormwater and address drainage problems residents had noted. He said the changes were "communicated to both civic associations multiple times."

Weber said a meeting with North 28th street residents is planned for Nov. 21.

Comments on the industrial park will be accepted by the town until Nov. 25.

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.