SOURCE:
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/towns/mta-lawrence-aviation-site-purchase-rzcy8avd
By Carl MacGowan - June 24, 2025
The MTA has requested and received another extension to complete its $10 purchase of a 40-acre Port Jefferson Station property for a future LIRR train station, Suffolk County officials said Tuesday.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority had faced a June 30 deadline to close on the deal after two previous deadlines had passed in June and December last year.
Michael Martino, spokesman for Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine, said the nonprofit Suffolk County Landbank, which owns the land on the former Lawrence Aviation Industries site, approved up to two six-month extensions to give MTA more time to finalize the deal. It was not clear if the MTA had accepted the proposed extension. The agency did not respond to a request for comment.
The land purchase 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 Lawrence Aviation site. DOT officials have said the easement may be needed for future road construction, though no such projects have been publicly identified.
DOT spokesman Glenn Blain has said the office offered to transfer the easement to the MTA, a process that he said could take several months.
A consortium of elected officials, civic activists and environmentalists earlier this month called on Gov. Kathy Hochul to help break the stalemate.
Hochul spokesman Sean Butler said Tuesday the governor and DOT and MTA officials "have made significant progress toward a permanent resolution for the Lawrence Aviation site that will be a win for Suffolk County."
Officials and supporters of the land purchase expressed guarded optimism Tuesday.
Assemb. Rebecca Kassay, who was among officials calling for the governor's assistance, said the new extension “gives a little bit more breathing room" for negotiations.
Kassay (D-Port Jefferson) authored a bill directing the DOT to transfer the land to the MTA. That bill has passed the Assembly and State Senate is awaiting Hochul's signature, she said.
“I hope we only have to use one of the six-month extensions so we can keep this rolling along,” Kassay said in a phone interview.
Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico credited Romaine with buying time for the project.
"If patience is a virtue, then County Executive Romaine should be counted among the most virtuous in Suffolk, for seeing the potential here," he said in a text message.
Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment in Farmingdale, which supports the MTA land-purchase plan, said in a telephone interview the extension "is better than having the deal collapse. But she added MTA and DOT officials "have to stop kicking the can down the road and take action. No more excuses.”
Suffolk officials had announced plans in 2023 to buy the 126-acre Lawrence Aviation property and split it into three roughly equal sections for a solar farm, open space and MTA rail yard. Later that year, on Dec. 28, the MTA agreed to buy its portion from the land bank for a token fee of $10.
Officials envision a new Port Jefferson train station, about a half-mile west of the current depot, that would alleviate traffic on State Route 112 and lead to electrification of the Port Jefferson rail line.
The site of the former aviation parts manufacturer is nearing completion of a $48 million federal Superfund cleanup.
Brookhaven bought the open space section for $400,000 last fall. The solar farm is under development by a private contractor.
