MTA delays purchase of Port Jefferson Station superfund site planned for rail yard 

The long-expected purchase by the MTA of a 40-acre section of a Port Jefferson Station Superfund site has been delayed at least till the end of the year — further postponing plans to build a rail yard at the former Lawrence Aviation Industries property.

Plans for the rail yard, including the potential relocation of the Port Jefferson train station, have been held up for more than a year while state, Suffolk County, Brookhaven Town and Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials discuss a new route for a walking trail that cuts through a portion of the Lawrence Aviation site.

Part of the 3½-mile Setauket-Port Jefferson Station Greenway would have to dip south near the path's eastern trailhead at Route 112 to make room for the MTA yard, officials have said. The New York State Department of Transportation previously earmarked that strip of land for a potential roadway.

“The lingering [Department of Transportation] issue has vexed the community supported acquisition by the MTA,” Brookhaven Town Supervisor Dan Panico said. He added: “The MTA’s long-standing financial issues call into question whether the plans for the property will ever come to fruition."

Department of Transportation spokesman Stephen Canzoneri in a statement said the agency "has been engaged in conversations with the MTA and Suffolk County regarding a portion of the former Lawrence Aviation property in Smithtown that the department acquired for use in a future highway project." He declined to comment further.

A June 27 letter from MTA officials asked the Suffolk County Landbank, which owns the property, to delay closing on the purchase from June 30 until Dec. 31. The land bank, a nonprofit arm of the county government in charge of disposing of brownfield properties, struck a deal last December to sell the site to the MTA for $10 for a future Long Island Rail Road yard.

The one-paragraph letter, a copy of which was obtained by Newsday, does not give a reason for the MTA’s request. It states terms of the tentative December agreement “remain in full force and effect.”

Residents and elected officials have called for the creation of a LIRR yard and the relocation of the Port Jefferson train station on the Lawrence Aviation Industries property. Such developments are considered a critical step toward the potential electrification of the Port Jefferson line, which currently runs diesel locomotives.

Selling a portion of the site to the MTA is one component of a larger plan to transform the 126-acre former Lawrence Aviation Industries property. Redevelopment plans call for a 36-acre solar farm and the preservation of more than 40 acres for open space for the Town of Brookhaven.

MTA spokesman David Steckel declined to comment except to say the agency is “working with [the Department of Transportation] and Suffolk County.”

Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine in a statement said officials “are looking forward to continuing our work with the MTA on this important, transformative project that will open up new transportation opportunities for Suffolk County and improve the community surrounding the site.”

It was not clear if the delay was related to the postponement of congestion pricing, which was to have taken effect in parts of Manhattan last month. Postponing congestion pricing is expected to affect numerous ongoing MTA capital projects.

The county land bank, through which the county redevelops tax-foreclosed properties, took control of the Lawrence Aviation site last year following a legal settlement. A narrow strip through the property where the Setauket-Port Jefferson Station Greenway runs, falls under New York State Department of Transportation jurisdiction. The department has long reserved the property in case the state needs to establish a highway.