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Head north on Lawrence Road in Kings Park and you will notice buildings once part of the Kings Park Psychiatric Center (KPPC) and now part of the Nissequogue River State Park (NRSP). The chain link fencing seen from the road is a perimeter fence delineating the boundaries of the Park. If you look to the right, you will see residences and a school building that houses the Kings Park school administrative offices and New Beginnings preschool program. This fence does not separate the property owned by the NYS Office Of Mental Health (OMH) which has always been considered a building within the park. When the KPPC was shuttered and the Nissequogue River State Park was created the building was subject to a lien and was not included in the NRSP, although it was widely accepted that it would someday become parkland.
The Nissequogue River State Park Foundation (NRSPF) was established in 2008. The Foundation is a not-for-profit organization committed to protecting and preserving the park’s historical and environmental assets. One of its primary goals was the creation and implementation of a comprehensive master plan to determine the most appropriate and sustainable reuses of the park’s buildings and grounds for cultural, recreational, and educational purposes. Foundation members have always been concerned that without a serious vision for the reuse of the park property haphazard utilization would result.
There is a proposal that the Smithtown Town Board of is promoting to have Suffolk County purchase the OMH building and surrounding property to help with its effort to remediate its downtown Smithtown Main Street business district. The proposal calls for sewering the downtown area (near Town Hall on Main St.) and running pipes up to the County’s sewage treatment plant (STP) in San Remo. Since there are limits on how much treated effluent can be released into the Long Island Sound, and since the Kings Park business area has already been allocated the capacity for releasing treated water into the LI Sound, there is no place for Smithtown’s sewage to go. The plan is for Suffolk County to purchase the OMH building and surrounding property within the NRSP corridor and create drainage basins for Smithtown’s treated wastewater.
The exact plan calls for the construction of sewers at a cost of $87 million (currently there is $20 million in funding secured through grants that may expire in 2026) running lines to the San Remo STP and then to pipe that water into four open sewage drainage basins on the property near the OMH building where the water will leach into the ground.
The NRSPF supports sewers and supports the reclamation of wastewater. The problem with this proposal is twofold: The site is wrong, and there has been no information provided to the Kings Park community.
The location of the OMH property is directly across the street from homes and a school. NRSP’s Master Plan calls for the creation of hike and bike trails, soccer fields and picnic areas. The area surrounding the OMH property is designated to be an active and high use area of the park.
Kids should not have to ride bikes or play soccer near sewage drainage basins.
Planners suggest the building would be removed within two years but without funding for the complete sewer project, how is that possible? When first proposed the county/town plan talked about an underground leaching field; the plan changed and without discussion open drainage basins replaced the underground system.
The NRSPF has been reaching out to residents who live in Smithtown, NRSP patrons and homeowners surrounding the proposed site the proposal is a huge surprise to them AND they are almost unanimous in their opposition to this proposal. There is anger, frustration and concern by people living near the proposed site. Smithtown Town Board members have not reached out to the public to explain this proposal. Residents are not comfortable with this proposal and they deserve to receive information from their elected officials. A mailing to the people of Kings Park is warranted.
The NRSPF supports the reclamation of waste water, but the placement of two acres of open drainage basins at the proposed location is inappropriate and needs to be reconsidered.
Pat Biancaniello