Town officials appeal for help to end impasse over Harbor Road reconstruction as Mill Creek Road reopens

Brookhaven and Smithtown officials said Wednesday they plan to seek help from state and Suffolk County officials to break an impasse with a Stony Brook nonprofit that they say has blocked efforts to reconstruct a road, dam and mill pond destroyed by a rainstorm last August.

On the day a road in the Village of Head of the Harbor reopened after it had been destroyed by the same storm, Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico said efforts to rebuild Harbor Road in Stony Brook were on hold because officials of the nonprofit Ward Melville Heritage Organization have refused to sign documents seeking state and federal disaster aid.

Harbor Road, which straddles the Brookhaven-Smithtown border, was washed away in the early morning hours of Aug. 19 when a driving rainstorm broke the mill pond dam that forms the roadbed, Newsday previously reported. 

Brookhaven and Smithtown officials have been locked in a monthslong dispute with the Heritage Organization over who owns Harbor Road and who should pay for its reconstruction.

Brookhaven officials have said Ward Melville owns the road; the nonprofit has disputed that.

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Panico said he and Smithtown and Head of the Harbor officials "are universally and jointly frustrated" by the Heritage Organization's "unwillingness to sign the applications to begin rebuilding Harbor Road and restoring Mill Pond. Collectively, we are appealing to the state to give the County of Suffolk, supported by both towns and the village of Head of the Harbor, the ability to apply [for disaster aid] and bypass the owner for public safety purposes."

Heritage Organization president Gloria Rocchio said Wednesday she was "not aware" that Panico planned to seek state and county help, adding there is "no evidence" showing the nonprofit owns Harbor Road or the dam.

"We are willing to support anything that will bring back the road, the pond and protect the Grist Mill," she told Newsday.

Welcoming help

It was not immediately clear what county or state officials could do to resolve the dispute.

Denis Slattery, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation, said in an email: "New York State is not the property owner and DEC jurisdiction would come into play if permits or other authorizations were needed for a rebuilt dam or other project that requires DEC oversight."

The statement continued, "DEC cannot require a dam to be built or otherwise expedite actions on private property."

Michael Martino, a spokesman for County Executive Ed Romaine, declined to comment.

Smithtown and Head of the Harbor officials Wednesday backed Panico, saying they would welcome state and county help.

“If the county can do that, then we support anything to get that road going,” Nicole Gargiulo, spokesperson for Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim, said.

Head of the Harbor Mayor Michael Utevsky said the lack of access over Harbor Road “presents a clear danger to public safety."

“In the event of a fire, health emergency or other emergency situation, a several-minute delay can be critical,” Utevsky said. “The village supports any effort to rebuild Harbor Road, and we would be grateful if the state or county can help break through the current stalemate.”

In a phone interview, County Legis. Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) agreed that state officials should play a role in reconstruction.

“I think that everybody needs to pull in the same direction," he said. "Any of a number of options for getting off of dead center makes sense to explore.” 

Mill Creek Road reopens

The Stony Brook dam dispute threatened to overshadow a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday morning at nearby Mill Creek Road, on the Smithtown side of the town border in Head of the Harbor. The street, privately owned by the Heritage Organization through an affiliate, the Stony Brook Community Fund, was formally reopened to traffic after it was washed out by the August storm.

The nonprofit paid for the road's reconstruction. Unlike the Stony Brook pond, there were no questions over who owned the road, officials said.

Utevsky credited Ward Melville officials for “doing such a major rebuilding job of the bluff, a creek bed and a road in less than nine months.”

Seven Mill Creek Road homes had been virtually trapped for weeks after the storm until a temporary street was built by Smithtown.

Bianca Dresch, a Mill Creek Road resident, said the situation has been “ever-evolving” for neighbors. “ This is the first step towards getting normalcy and getting back to what this community was, and what drew so many people from all over the island to Stony Brook,” she said. 

Rocchio said at the ceremony that it was “very rewarding to see the residents happy and have a good day for them versus having to have houses condemned, and the fear they were going through.”