Byron Lake Park, MacArthur Airport upgrades focus of Islip Supervisor Angie Carpenter's annual town speech

Byron Lake Park in Oakdale will reopen to the public this summer, Islip Town Supervisor Angie Carpenter said Wednesday, in an annual State of the Town speech that focused on upgrades and renovations to Islip parks and facilities.

The renovated park, upgraded “after 55 years of patient waiting,” will feature a rebuilt Olympic-size pool with a double flume slide, a kiddie pool and spray pad, new office buildings and a concession stand, Carpenter said. The pool is expected to open June 29 with all other town pools for the summer, with full-day camps that include activities like swimming and crafts. 

Byron Lake itself will also be rebuilt, with a second phase of water quality improvements planned to begin later this year, she said.

Upgrades to the Oakdale facility are just the latest in a series of overhauls to town parks. A $1.25 million skate park opened at Roberto Clemente Park in Brentwood last March, the only skate park in Islip Town and among a handful in Suffolk County.

Roberto Clemente has been the recipient of some $13 million in improvements in recent years, including a $2 million splash park and a revamped pool, after illegal dumping in 2013 and 2014 shuttered the park for more than three years while crews excavated nearly 40,000 tons of contaminated fill.

The town also reopened Ross Memorial Park in Brentwood this fall, featuring a new playground, gazebo, lighting structures, security cameras and a stage for performances. The 3-acre park on Brentwood Road was shuttered during the pandemic for repairs and improvements after two Suffolk County police officers were injured while responding to a call about a disturbance at the park.

Carpenter, who was elected last November to her final term in office, additionally highlighted planned improvements to improve accessibility and relocate IT infrastructure at Town Hall, new turf fields across the town, free Wi-Fi at town buildings and parks and legislation passed this summer to establish a “quality of life court” to address town code violations.

There are plans to revamp the town website to be more user friendly, she said, and to roll out a new “planning portal” to ease access to permits and building applications.

Another focus in Carpenter’s speech was ongoing improvements to Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma, plans to bring Amtrak service to the Ronkonkoma train station and town cooperation with builders to facilitate affordable housing.

Islip Town is in the process of revamping a comprehensive plan to provide “a complete and updated roadmap” for the future, Carpenter said.

Prompted by a spate of development, the town hired a consultant this fall to start work on a long-term policy plan to address growth and land use, with a focus on transit-oriented developments, commercial corridors, housing, climate change, the economy, open space and recreation.

The town's last comprehensive plan was adopted in 1979 and has undergone revisions.

"Overall, the Town of Islip has been doing pretty decent work," said Suffolk County Legis. Sam Gonzalez (D-Brentwood), who attended Wednesday's speech. 

"Do I think that, going forward, there should be more minority representation in the Town of Islip? I do," he added, especially from the town's Latino community.

Michael McElwee (R-West Islip), newly elected to Islip's Town Board, said he's "excited" about the planned improvements around town. 

"There's lots of things coming. I actually went by the Byron Lake pool site myself today, just to kind of check in," he said.

By Brianne Ledda

brianne.ledda@newsday.com@brianne_ledda

Brianne Ledda covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. She previously covered Southold and Greenport for The Suffolk Times and is a graduate of Stony Brook University.