About
The Downtown Smithtown Sewer Construction Project
Suffolk County and the Town of Smithtown are thrilled to announce that the much needed, highly anticipated sewer construction into Downtown Smithtown has begun. The installation of sewers in Downtown Smithtown, will significantly reduce nitrogen flowing into the Nissequogue River, make way for new or expanded commercial growth like restaurants, cafes, bars, and mixed use development. Furthermore, as we’ve historically witnessed in surrounding areas, the project will increase property values within the community.
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In 2017, Governor Cuomo announced two $20 million grants under the State’s Transformative Investment Program (TIP), one to connect the Kings Park Business District to Suffolk County Sewer District No. 6 in Kings Park, and the other to bring sewers to the Smithtown Business District. While the Kings Park Business District project has been approved and is slated to break ground this Spring, the Smithtown Business District project was previously unable to move forward.
A Working Group composed of community leaders, Town and County staff devoted nearly two years examining alternative approaches to bring sewers to the Smithtown Business District. After careful deliberation and analysis, the working group concluded that the most environmentally beneficial and cost-effective plan would be to connect downtown Smithtown to the existing state-of-the-art treatment plant at Kings Park, utilizing a small parcel of land to return water treated by the plant to the ground.
After completing investigations of a half-dozen different sites for use as recharge beds, the Working Group identified a parcel containing a vacant, unsecured, derelict building, owned by the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) at the former Kings Park Psychiatric Center, as the only viable location for the recharge beds.
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The Working Group’s examination concluded that the OMH property was a suitable location for numerous reasons, including:
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Use of the site to facilitate the sewer project will eliminate the use of cesspools and septic systems, reducing nitrogen loading to the Nissequogue River, which is protected under the Wild, Scenic and Recreational Rivers Act, by 87 percent.
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The property is located outside environmentally sensitive areas including the State of New York’s Wild, Scenic and Recreational Rivers Act Corridor and Town of Smithtown Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan (LWRP) Conservation Area.
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Recharging cleaned water at the site would use just one and half acres of the 17 acre site, placing recharge beds in the footprint of the vacant and derelict buildings, which would be removed, and preserving the remainder of the property as open space.
