SOURCE:
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/towns/mta-lawrence-aviation-property-sale-ytnghw57
By Carl MacGowan - June 2, 2025
Residents, environmentalists and a bipartisan group of elected officials Monday called on Gov. Kathy Hochul to break the stalemate that has blocked the MTA's purchase of 40 acres of land for a new Port Jefferson railroad station.
Using an oversized pair of scissors to cut a symbolic strip of red tape, Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine and others said the Metropolitan Transportation Authority faces a June 30 deadline to close on a section of the former Lawrence Aviation Industries property in Port Jefferson Station. The site, a former aviation parts manufacturer, is nearing completion of a $48 million federal Superfund cleanup.
The transaction has been blocked while state Department of Transportation officials consider adjusting a 2,200-foot section of a hiking and biking trail that runs through the site, Newsday has previously reported. DOT officials have said the land might be needed for future highway construction.
"Someone at DOT says, 'Well, maybe we can use this for something else,'" Romaine said at the news conference. "That's nonsense."
Hochul's office and MTA and DOT officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
At an MTA meeting last Wednesday, board member Marc Herbst called the Lawrence property "a real gift" and said he was frustrated the purchase had not been completed.
“Personally, I have not heard an explanation as to why DOT won’t move forward,” Herbst said. “I’m concerned that this deal will not happen and the deadline will expire.”
The MTA has agreed to buy the land off Sheep Pasture Road for $10 from the Suffolk County Landbank, a nonprofit arm of county government, Newsday previously reported. The county extended two previous deadlines to complete the purchase, in June and December of last year.
This time, the June 30 deadline is final and cannot be extended, officials said. The property's future would be in limbo if the MTA misses the deadline, said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of nonprofit Citizens Campaign for the Environment in Farmingdale.
"The clock is ticking," she said. "We're running out of time."
Suffolk officials had announced plans in 2023 to buy the 126-acre Lawrence Aviation property and split it in three roughly equal sections for a solar farm, open space and the MTA rail yard.
Brookhaven bought the open space section for $400,000 last fall. The solar farm is under development by a private contractor.
On the projected MTA parcel, officials envision a new Port Jefferson train station, about a half-mile west of the current rail depot, that would alleviate traffic congestion on State Route 112 and lead to electrification of the Port Jefferson rail line.
The plan is supported by officials from Brookhaven, the Village of Port Jefferson, state and county lawmakers and local civic groups.
Assemb. Rebecca Kassay (D-Port Jefferson) said uncertainty about the plan deepened when she learned the state budget that passed last month did not include authorization for the $10 MTA needs to buy the land.
"I stood up and said, 'Guys, I'll pay for it,'" she said.
