Seize opportunity in Ronkonkoma

North of the Long Island Rail Road tracks in Ronkonkoma, a new neighborhood with desirable housing, shops, and restaurants has risen. To the south lie empty parking lots and mostly vacant stretches of land, representing years of unfulfilled promises. 

It's a sadly familiar refrain on Long Island, which has seen plenty of big development plans for the region's remaining large swaths of available land — from the Nassau Hub to the Pilgrim Psychiatric Center — never come to fruition, despite decades of trying.

But now the property, newly dubbed Ronkonkoma South, has received a big boost that could turn the empty land into an economic boon. Gov. Kathy Hochul has pledged $150 million toward infrastructure improvements — funds that could go to sewers, utility upgrades, parking garages, road improvements, and new ways to finally connect a major LIRR station and Long Island MacArthur Airport.

Those state funds — along with $50 million pledged by Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine, also for infrastructure — are critical to the future of Ronkonkoma South. That brighter vision starts with the idea of moving the MacArthur Airport terminal to the north end of the airport property, so that it's closer to the station. If that happens, the notion of a "walkway" between train and plane becomes feasible. Add the possibility that Amtrak could come as far east as Ronkonkoma and there's a potentially game-changing transportation hub in the Town of Islip's future.

That depends, however, on the Islip Town board agreeing to allocate funds to the process of choosing a developer who could best move the terminal project forward. Town board members seem engaged and ready, and should proceed.

Moving the terminal can't happen in a vacuum. That's why Suffolk County's effort to find a new developer for the rest of the land is so important. In issuing a request for developer interest, the county should allow for every big idea, including housing. Islip Town officials have suggested that housing is among the town's "least favored uses" for the site. But Islip, recently designated by the state as a "pro-housing community," has long supported specific instances of smart and varied housing development, as when the town approved thousands of units at the proposed Heartland Town Square on the Pilgrim State property. Town and county officials should keep their options open; whatever is built at Ronkonkoma South might include the businesses or research centers that offer high-paying jobs the town craves, while also providing the housing necessary for those workers.

There's an enormous opportunity here to make Ronkonkoma a destination where residents can live, work and play, and where visitors can arrive by plane or train and enjoy such amenities as hotels, conference spaces, restaurants and more. For that to happen, state, county and town officials must work together. The momentum is finally here. Seize it, and another community could rise.