For Immediate Release – November 20, 2024
Opponents File Appeal and Motion to Reargue Lower Court Decision
Experts Agree Environmental Review Was Incomplete
Failure to Consider Severe Weather and Impacts Identified as Flaw
August 19 Rainfall and Flood That Burst Stony Brook Dam Cited
The Saint James – Head of the Harbor Neighborhood Preservation Coalition and homeowners who are plaintiffs in the Article 78 proceeding against the proposed Gyrodyne mega development have filed an appeal to the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division of the State court decision dismissing that petition.
The plaintiffs have also filed a motion with the lower court to renew and reargue the petition and for the court to annul the Smithtown Planning Board’s preliminary site plan approval and require the preparation of a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) on several grounds.
The legal action comes while the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Suffolk County continue efforts to preserve the undeveloped Flowerfield Fairgrounds portion of the Gyrodyne property as open space by purchasing the property for fair market value.
One of the primary points raised in the motion and appeal is that the data used in preparing the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is outdated and did not address the issue of severe weather events, including rainfalls that have occurred with increasing intensity and frequency during the past two decades and are projected to occur more frequently in the future.
Nor did the EIS address the issue of resulting increased surface water runoff and the damage that it causes. The most stark recent example relevant to this litigation is the August 18–19, 2024 storm, in which runoff down State Route 25A caused the Stony Brook Mill Pond dam to collapse.
“It’s a simple fact that the environmental review of Gyrodyne’s subdivision plan did not consider the increasing frequency of severe weather events like the one that occurred in August and the impact that stormwater from the Gyrodyne site played in overwhelming and destroying the dam at Stony Brook Mill Pond,” said Judith Ogden, a Head of the Harbor Village Trustee who serves as a spokesperson for the Coalition.
“As bad as the flooding from that event was, it could have been much worse. Experts say that if a 10-inch rainfall had occurred with Gyrodyne’s proposed development in place, the Stony Brook Gristmill would likely have been destroyed and reduced to a pile of lumber at the base of Stony Brook Creek.”
The motion includes affidavits from world-renowned experts. Dr. Christopher J. Gobler, an expert on climate change and its effect on the environment, is the director of the New York State Center for Clean Water Technology and the Distinguished Professor and Endowed Chair of Coastal Ecology and Conservation at Stony Brook University.
He states that the rainfall measurement used in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) “is not a sufficient barometer of the measures needed to contain the stormwater runoff on the property.”
Dr. Gobler cites research stating that most data sets show an increasing trend in tropical cyclone rainfall as opposed to mean precipitation and states that “[c]urrent infrastructure in the region is inadequately prepared for future impacts from TC-related extreme precipitation events, such as what occurred on August 18–19, in such a population-dense region.”
According to Dr. Gobler, although Governor Hochul described that storm as a one-in-1,000-year event, “there have been other events dropping more than 10 inches of rain on Long Island during the past decade (i.e., Hurricane Ida, 2021; August 13, 2014 event where 13.57 inches fell in Islip).”
Dr. Gobler further explains: “In effect, Long Island is in the epicenter for increased rainfall this century, especially extreme one-hour and 24-hour events. Predictions are that these one-in-1,000-year events will happen every five to ten years. The August 18 and 19 rainfall and all known climatological models demonstrate that the use of an eight-inch rain event is outdated and not sufficient to properly measure the infrastructure needed to retain stormwater runoff.”
“Accordingly, a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement to determine the infrastructure necessary to retain stormwater based on at least 10-inch rainfall events should be undertaken.”
“Further, the subject property is in an extremely sensitive location. The property sits at an elevation above Stony Brook Harbor where all rainfall leaving the site will flow down Route 25A and empty into the harbor and coastal waters. The analysis that has been presented in the Environmental Impact Statement does not take into consideration weather events that have recently occurred and will continue to occur.”
Dr. Carl Safina, another world-renowned expert who submitted an affidavit in support of the motion, is an ecologist and the inaugural holder of the Carl Safina Endowed Research Professorship for Nature and Humanity at Stony Brook University.
He has authored many books and articles on ecology and the environment that have appeared frequently in national publications, including National Geographic. He has also been profiled widely in print, radio, and television, including his well-known 10-part PBS series, Saving the Ocean with Carl Safina.
Dr. Safina agrees that the environmental review of the subdivision plan submitted by Gyrodyne is inadequate for a number of reasons and states that the preparation of a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement is necessary in order to satisfy the requirements of the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA).
He states that “[t]he short duration and level of intensity of the rainfall event that caused these impacts [to the Mill Pond dam] is unprecedented, and was not considered as part of the prior environmental review of Gyrodyne’s subdivision proposal. Experts have warned that such extreme weather events are likely due to climate change and will occur again with increased frequency in the future.”
Dr. Safina also points out further deficiencies in the Environmental Impact Statement. “It contains no plan to address the devastation to shellfish and other marine life in nearby waterways, including Stony Brook Harbor, from pharmaceutical chemicals that would enter those waters.” The EIS acknowledges that “pharmaceuticals present a challenge for removal from water.”
Dr. Safina also comments on adverse traffic consequences that were not adequately addressed. “The roads surrounding the property already are saturated with traffic. The Environmental Impact Statement submitted does not adequately address the extent of additional traffic that would be created by the proposed development, nor its negative effect upon those who currently travel through the area, nor the increased frequency of accidents.”
Suffolk County Legislator Steven Englebright, a geologist specializing in coastal geomorphology, sedimentology, and Long Island geology, also supports the motion through his affidavit for the same reasons cited by the other experts. Englebright, a former New York State Assemblyman whose district includes Stony Brook, has conducted extensive research on climate change and its effects on the environment.
