EPCAL, any word ?

[catfish]

Wish the answers on how they made out came as quick as the criticism for those who couldn't make it.:confused:

[luvracing]

At the Riverhead Town board meeting last night the board took comments on Epcal after the regular business. It is not a done deal and very disappointing to see only about 7 people I recognized from Riverhead Raceway. If that is the turn out, I can't see how they could take oval racers very seriously.

[SuperShafts]

Well when I get to places and see I'm getting jerked..it's better I stay away..

But everyone REEEAAALLLYY wants it..

3 Riverhead residents.......3 were there that I counted that spoke, there was another I was sitting with so, I counted 4 total. Riverhead News and Suffolk Life were there...see you Sunday..or maybe we won't see you Sunday..I really don't know what people mean anymore when they SAY I'll see you there.

Oh yeah, there is a fund raiser for Mr. Stark tomorrow night...see you there.. all the info for that is at ....
www.LiMotorsports.org and sign up and become members of that association...

[SuperShafts]

Anyone going tonight?

[FERGBIZZ]

Sunday is the Country Fair in downtown Riverhead, I'm sure that's where a good portion of Riverhead residents will be, especially the politicians.

[The Bullfather]

tonight??? Is it a closed meeting? What is it that being done tonight?

[RGeeProductions]

By John Stefans

The proposed ski slope at EPCAL has quickly surpassed the Youngs Avenue landfill as the most contentious issue in the race for Riverhead supervisor.

It has also drawn the involvement of car-racing enthusiasts, many from outside the town, who held a rally Saturday morning at Grumman Memorial Park on Route 25 in Calverton.

They came in a caravan of about 50 cars, leaving from Exit 68 on the Long Island Expressway, to protest the recent 4 to 1 vote by the Riverhead Town Board to begin exclusive negotiations with Riverhead Resorts. That's the consortium that bid $155 million for 755 acres at EPCAL to build, among other things, a 350-foot-tall enclosed mountain for year-round skiing. The group's plans also include a 92-acre, eight-foot-deep, man-made lake, to be dug where the 7,000-foot former Grumman runway now sits.

The motor sports enthusiasts, who were joined at the rally by Jim Stark, the Republican candidate for supervisor, demanded that negotiations begin instead with a consortium led by RexCorp, which has proposed a family entertainment center on the same 755 acres and had bid $152.5 million for the property. The RexCorp group had proposed, among other things, an oval NASCAR-style racetrack with stadium seating for 10,000, along with what is called a "road course" for racing and testing high-performance cars.

Many of the same racing enthusiasts turned up at Tuesday night's Town Board meeting to again demand — some rather angrily — that the Town Board rescind its earlier decision and vote to negotiate with RexCorp. No action was taken or even contemplated, despite a promise Mr. Stark had made at Saturday's rally.

To a roar of approval from the crowd, Mr. Stark had said that over the weekend he would create a formal resolution to rescind the Riverhead Resorts decision, and he said he would ask Councilman Ed Densieski, a Republican who had voted against Riverhead Resorts, to introduce the resolution at Tuesday's Town Board meeting. But when asked about it by a reporter Tuesday night, Mr. Densieski said that Mr. Stark hadn't given him a resolution to introduce. Mr. Stark didn't attend the meeting.

Reached at home yesterday morning, Mr. Stark said he had prepared a resolution but that it was not yet in final form. He said he most likely would give it to a colleague on the Town Board early next week and ask that it be introduced and brought to a vote. He admitted he's far from confident that the resolution would be seconded, which is the only way a resolution can be voted on. But he added, "I may be pleasantly surprised."

Even Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy has entered the fray. A letter he wrote was read aloud at Saturday's rally, voicing support for a racetrack and suggesting he might have an idea for building a track somewhere else if the Riverhead Town Board sticks with its decision favoring Riverhead Resorts over RexCorp.

The letter, read by Alan Estergomy of Central Islip, a member of the Long Island Motor Sports Association, said in part:

"If the EPCAL site is not approved by the Town Board of Riverhead, then the site immediately next door is already properly zoned, isolated from residents, and is easily accessible by major roadways. I have met with the owner of the property, who is prepared to construct a motor sports park on that site, if the Riverhead Town Board agrees."

The letter neither identified the property nor its owner, and calls on Monday and Tuesday to Mr. Levy and his press aide, Ed Dumas, went unanswered. But The News-Review has learned that the site Mr. Levy referred to in his letter is the 42-acre parcel within EPCAL that's been proposed as a site for an ATV racetrack.

That site was purchased four years ago by Island Water Park, which planned to dig two man-made lakes for water skiing. That proposal soon ran into difficulty with the DEC and the Pine Barrens Commission, especially after the excavation for one of the lakes struck groundwater. The owner of Island Water Park, Eric Scott, then changed his plans, proposing instead to build a track for racing all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles on the site, while keeping one of the two proposed man-made lakes.

Supervisor Phil Cardinale said in an interview Tuesday that Ben Zwirn, an assistant deputy county executive, confirmed the Island Water Park site was the site to which Mr. Levy referred in his letter.

Reached by phone Tuesday, Mr. Scott confirmed that he had, indeed, met with Mr. Levy several times. But he expressed surprise that his discussions with the county executive were mentioned in the letter. "Nothing was really decided," he said.

Mr. Estergomy of the motor sports group was surprised on Tuesday when told Mr. Levy's letter referred to an ATV/motorcycle track on a 42-acre parcel. He subsequently called the county executive's office and confirmed that this was in fact the proposal Mr. Levy wrote about, he said in an interview later that day.

Mr. Estergomy said the site trumpeted by the county executive would be "totally insufficient and not even close" to what his organization wants to see happen at EPCAL.

At the rally, Mr. Stark called the Town Board's vote to select Riverhead Resorts over RexCorp as "probably the worst business decision I've seen in the history of the Town of Riverhead."

Referring to the proposal for a 90-acre man-made lake, he said, "We're going to have another sand-mining operation."

He also criticized the time it would take for Riverhead Resorts to complete its project and said he doubted it would even be built given all of the environmental hurdles it faces. "We could have [the RexCorp plan] done in a year and a half," Mr. Stark said. "We could have given tax relief to the residents of Riverhead. This town needs tax relief, it needs entertainment and it needs a tourist industry. This was an outright poor decision, pure and simple."

Mr. Cardinale, the incumbent Democrat who is Mr. Stark's opponent in November's election, said he hadn't been invited to speak at Saturday's rally, but had called Mr. Estergomy at his home to request that he be allowed to make remarks. Mr. Estergomy agreed.

Mr. Cardinale, who was booed often, told the racing enthusiasts that he had nothing against motor sports at EPCAL and, in fact, would welcome it. He said that although he and the Town Board had been faced with a difficult decision in choosing Riverhead Resorts over RexCorp, he would still like to see a racetrack at EPCAL.

He said that a 500-acre parcel still remains for sale at the old Grumman site and that he has already approached RexCorp to see if the company would be interested in pursuing a motor sports facility on that property.

Mr. Cardinale reported much the same at Tuesday night's board meeting and indicated he had already spoken with Scott Rechler, the head of RexCorp, who had promised to consider the idea.

Vic Prusinowski, the former Riverhead councilman who is a consultant to RexCorp, said Tuesday that the company would have no official comment on the suggestion until at least next week.

10/04/07 News Review

[unowho243]

Nice RGee! Does anyone have a boatload of info on this whole subject because I am taking a local Gov't Class in College and my Professor, who works for Brookhaven town, and knows almost every gov't official in the county, gave me the go for using this as a subject on my final paper. He even said that if it is worthy, he would be more then willing to give it to MR. Cardinale...

[art11758]

Jim, the guy to talk to is Supershafts. That is if you can get him to stand still long enough! PM him your questions or he will be at the F-14 at Calverton from about 11 am till .... well I'm not sure. He and several other well informed individuals will be there. (oh and a bunch of regular folks like myself lol)

[SuperShafts]

Cardinale never called Scott or contacted him in any capacity about the 500 acres...he came to us and we never went anywhere with it, we told him we will accept the 500 + the 755 at the same 152 mil.
He asked, but then we would have to pay more for the added property, he was told by us he would have the added revenue by the facility being up and running within 3 years and begining to give/pay Riverhead Town's share of the facilities profit. That was part of the offered proposal and do that 10 years, plus before the ski mountain could ever, if it was possible to be built..
That is where you will get your extra money phil.

The town of Riverhead has someone running there town that is going to kill it.
__________________________________________________ _______________

Last night was Mr.Starks fund raiser, there attendance was good, in fact standing room only.

Lots of good people there, you should have come out.

What about Sunday? www.limotorsports.org