Lawsuit against Flowerfield Fairgrounds in St. James is dismissed

A Suffolk County judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Smithtown and Gyrodyne LLC over the company's plan to subdivide the Flowerfield Fairgrounds property in St. James.

Head of the Harbor Village and area residents sued the town and developer in April 2022, a month after the Smithtown planning board approved a preliminary proposal to subdivide the property into eight lots. Gyrodyne LLC, a St. James company that manages and leases commercial real estate, would build medical offices, an assisted living facility and a hotel on the 63-acre property.

The Saint James-Head of the Harbor Neighborhood Preservation Coalition, Head of the Harbor Village and area residents sued Smithtown and Gyrodyne to void the planning board’s decision. The plaintiffs also sought a more comprehensive environmental review from Gyrodyne, a former defense contractor.

Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Maureen Liccione dismissed the lawsuit in a 13-page ruling on Oct. 11.

In her ruling, Liccione wrote: "The record demonstrates that the planning board took the requisite ‘hard look’ and mitigated the potential adverse environmental impacts of subdivision approval to the maximum extent practicable.”

Liccione said the subdivision complies with local zoning rules as well as the town's draft comprehensive plan. The proposal shows "its compliance with neighborhood characteristics and its conformity with the community's current plans or goals as officially approved or adopted," Liccione wrote.

In a statement, the coalition said it would appeal the ruling. The group claims the environmental review did not consider severe weather events that could make flooding at and around the property "much more severe." The statement referenced the Aug. 18-19 storm that flooded parts of Smithtown and Route 25A near Flowerfield Fairgrounds.

Timothy Shea, a partner at Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman, LLP, the Hauppauge law firm representing Gyrodyne, said the company was "very gratified” with the ruling.

Gyrodyne’s staff had provided "a thorough and comprehensive environmental analysis that survived judicial scrutiny,” Shea said.

Gyrodyne will file its final subdivision applications with the town and Suffolk County and respond to comments from both groups, Shea said.

The plan does not affect Flowerfield Celebrations, the catering facility on the 75-acre site.

Judy Ogden, a village trustee and coalition president, said her group is "pursuing all options.”

Ogden said she is hopeful that the state Department of Environmental Conservation acquires 43 acres of the St. James property to preserve it as open space. In June 2023, the DEC pitched the idea of acquiring the property in a letter to Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim. Wehrheim replied that the town had "no objection” to the DEC proposal.

A DEC spokeswoman said in a statement Tuesday that the state "recognizes the significant conservation values of the Gyrodyne (Flowerfields) property."

The agency has had "preliminary discussions with stakeholders regarding the property’s future conservation," the statement said.

Joe Bollhofer, the coalition’s co-founder, said his group would appeal and pursue "all avenues in opposition to this proposed development.”

"We always knew that this might be necessary, and we’re prepared to do what we need to do,” Bollhofer said.

Wehrheim said he expects Gyrodyne to seek final municipal approvals to build the subdivision.

Wehrheim said he will speak with residents who oppose Gyrodyne's plan.

"We certainly understand the community’s concerns, and that’s priority one. But with some of these properties like this, they’re owned by private companies or citizens and they have rights to develop it if they want to,” Wehrheim said. "Our job is to try and fit what is acceptable to the community there, and we give that our best effort. So we’ll do the same thing here.”

In February, Liccione ruled that the village and several residents could not participate in the lawsuit. Some of the residents did not live close enough to the proposed site, Liccione ruled.