Repairs to Mill Creek Road in Head of the Harbor nearly complete, but work on Harbor Road has yet to begin

Repairs to Mill Creek Road in Head of the Harbor — the only entrance point for a seven-home neighborhood — are expected to be finished this month, village and nonprofit officials said, after the road was badly damaged by an August storm. 

That puts restoration of the road well ahead of efforts in Stony Brook to repair Harbor Road, which, along with a pond, dam and bridge, was destroyed by the same storm. The restoration of that road and those properties has yet to start, Brookhaven and Head of the Harbor officials said.

Lingering questions over ownership appear to be the difference.

Mill Creek Road is privately owned by the Stony Brook Community Fund, an affiliate of the nonprofit Ward Melville Heritage Organization, according to Head of the Harbor Mayor Michael Utevsky. 

“We’re expecting it to be open soon, and then at some point in the next few months, we intend to remove the temporary access road that we built,” Utevsky said.

Ward Melville Heritage Organization president Gloria Rocchio said Excav Services, a Manorville-based company, is waiting for the delivery of guardrails that will be installed on Mill Creek Road before it opens. 

“I think all of us have one objective, and that’s to get the pond back to the people and have the road accessible to them,” Rocchio said. 

Meanwhile, the standstill on repairs to Harbor Road — which straddles the Smithtown-Brookhaven border — is due to the ongoing uncertainty over which entity owns it and other storm-damaged properties.

Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico said the dispute remained unresolved, though town officials believe title records clearly show the land belongs to the nonprofit.

If that is the case, Brookhaven officials believe the Ward Melville Heritage Organization must lead restoration efforts, Panico said.

“We want to see this rebuilt and the pond restored,” Panico said, adding Brookhaven cannot spend tax dollars on privately owned land or property that's located in another municipality. “Bottom line is, the pond needs to be restored, and the dam and road need to be rebuilt.”

No timetable for repairs

Rocchio said the organization expects the ownership matter to be resolved “shortly," although she gave no timetable for when Harbor Road repairs might be started or finished. 

Mill Creek Road and Harbor Road sustained significant damage after a storm dropped 10 inches of rainfall in the area overnight Aug. 18-19. Village police had ordered Mill Creek Road residents to evacuate before the temporary access road was built. Parts of Harbor Road were washed away and the bridge on the road spanning the dam that connected Stony Brook with Head of the Harbor also was destroyed. 

The damage caused by the storm — which extended from Smithtown to Rocky Point — totaled roughly $41 million in Suffolk County, Newsday has reported.

The Ward Melville Heritage Organization declined to disclose the costs to repair Mill Creek Road. Head of the Harbor has not spent any funds to repair either Mill Creek or Harbor roads, according to Utevsky.

Village officials previously stated that following the storm, the village laid out roughly 250 tons of rocklike material known as riprap along sidewalks leading to both of the affected roads so that gullies could be prevented from forming along sidewalks.

Seeking FEMA reimbursements 

The Town of Smithtown's highway department built the temporary paved access road off Emmet Drive. The cost to install it was $170,000, and Head of the Harbor is expected to reimburse the town once the Federal Emergency Management Agency approves the funding, Smithtown spokeswoman Nicole Gargiulo said.

Meanwhile, Rocchio said the nonprofit commissioned an engineering report that it received last month stating Harbor Road did not require major excavation to be rebuilt. Rocchio said that should make the repair process easier. The nonprofit has opted to not yet make the report public because not all of its board members have reviewed it, according to Rocchio. 

That organization is expected to seek reimbursement for the Mill Creek and Harbor Road projects from FEMA via the state Office of Emergency Management, which coordinates FEMA applications, Brookhaven Chief Fire Marshal Christopher Mehrman said.

Mill Creek Road resident Thomas Rubio said he is glad repairs to the road he lives on are nearly complete. 

However, Rubio said he is concerned about the delays in repairing Harbor Road, and that he would like to see the temporary access road, which runs through the back of his property, remain until Harbor Road is fixed so residents don't risk getting stranded again. 

"We could close the access road now but keep it as a backup in case they have to bring in heavy equipment," Rubio said. 

Regarding the removal of the temporary road, Gargiulo said there is “no definitive timeline at this point.” 

Rocchio said it was important to finish the Harbor Road repairs soon. She said village residents are traveling on Rhododendron Road, a one-lane road, as an alternative, causing a spike in traffic there.