Future of EPCAL remains unsettled

President Donald Trump is pushing hard for a bill he says will address concerns about illegal voting, including permitting only U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections. Among the controversial provisions in the bill’s current iteration are requirements for individuals to present proof of citizenship to register to vote. That could create hurdles for New Yorkers who either don't have a passport or whose legal name doesn't match the name on their birth certificate. Billy House reports in NEWSDAY that an estimated 3.8 million New York women have a name that does not match their birth certificate, usually because they changed their name upon marriage, according to numbers provided by Administration Committee Democrats. When a name on a birth certificate doesn’t match the voter’s current name because of marriage, or for other reasons, the applicants for registration would be required submit additional documents that explain the discrepancy.Those requirements alone could impact millions of New Yorkers, numbers provided by the House Committee on Administration’s top Democrat, Rep. Joe Morelle (D-Rochester), show.For instance, roughly 28.9% of New Yorkers do not have passports. At a cost of $130 per passport, the SAVE Act could force New Yorkers to pay over $665 million if they need to use a passport to register to vote.And there is that other problem which mostly hits women voters — they are more likely to change their names upon marriage or divorce and would require additional documents to show proof of that name change.The upshot is an expected marathon of Senate floor debates next week.***The Southampton Town Board this week unanimously approved the purchase of 35 acres of wooded land in Hampton Bays just to the west and north of the town’s Jackson Avenue complex, on which it plans to construct a sewage treatment plant that someday would be connected to a sewer system serving the Hampton Bays business district. Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that last month, the board had heard complaints from one immediate neighbor of the property and residents of a neighborhood about 1,000 feet away on the opposite side of Old Riverhead Road that the plans would hurt their property values.But town officials said on Tuesday that the proposal is a critical cog that will bring sweeping benefits to the whole the Hampton Bays community — and will have far fewer impacts on neighbors once completed than feared. “Modern facilities like this are very different than older plants — the tanks are enclosed with odor controls, so there should be no noticeable odors from this at all,” the town’s planning and development administrator, Janice Scherer, said on Tuesday. She added that the buildings also will be soundproof, so the system will emit little to no noise, and much of the system is fully automated, so it will not require regular staffing and traffic from maintenance vehicles.And the plant will provide much greater improvements to water quality than putting homes and businesses on individual modernized septic systems would.The Town of Southampton will pay the land’s owner $3.2 million from the Community Preservation Fund’s dedicated water quality account for about 31 acres of the land, and another $465,000 from the town’s general fund for about 4.8 acres that will ultimately be folded into the Jackson Avenue facilities. The town is in the midst of designing a redevelopment plan to someday accommodate more town offices relocated from the current Town Hall in Southampton Village.The treatment facility will take up about 6 acres of the larger property, at the southern end closest to Old Riverhead Road. The rest of the property will remain as open woodlands, at the edge of the Long Island Pine Barrens.It will take the town at least four to five years to design and build the sewage treatment plant and begin constructing the sewer system for the downtown. When completed, the sewers have been seen as a key component to allowing a redevelopment of the Hampton Bays downtown to incorporate mixed residential-commercial areas in hopes of revitalizing the hamlet’s business district.***St. Patrick’s Day parades throughout the East End begin this weekend, with Westhampton Beach’s annual parade stepping off Saturday at 12 noon from the elementary school on Mill Road, led by Grand Marshal Allyson Barone Scerri, a tireless advocate and fundraiser for those suffering from traumatic brain injury.On the north fork tomorrow, Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that the annual Cutchogue St. Patrick’s Day Parade, led by 14 past Grand Marshals from the parade’s 20-year history, steps off from the light on the Main Road at Cox Lane at 2 p.m. Saturday, continuing to downtown Cutchogue.Tomorrow’s weather forecast indicates conditions suitable for enjoying a St. Paddy’s Day parade –Sunny, with a high near 46 and breezy.***The future of Calverton Enterprise Park (EPCAL) remains unsettled, with litigation still hanging over the former Grumman property and no clear redevelopment plan in place, even as Riverhead Town Supervisor Jerry Halpin says he wants development of the site to make use of the rail spur the town refurbished with $4.8 million in federal funds more than a decade ago.Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that Halpin this week described freight rail and manufacturing as central to his thinking about the town-owned property, saying he wants EPCAL to be “a manufacturing hub” and “an economic engine.”“I’m not gonna do ash or trash,” Halpin said. “I know it’s a concern of taxpayers, because they don’t want a transfer station there or an incinerator. So, I want people to know that,” he said. Utilizing the rail spur would be an environmental benefit, “because we have so many semis that bring everything here, to the East End,” he said. There are already some manufacturing businesses located within the enterprise park that could utilize the rail, he said.“I think it would also open other doors at EPCAL for manufacturers to come in and to do stuff, and to be able to rely on that,” Halpin said.Halpin told Riverheadlocal that he’s gotten favorable feedback from county and federal officials regarding an EPCAL rail spur.There are still practical obstacles to restoring rail service.The rail spur’s current configuration limits its usefulness to the site as a whole. Due to the spur’s location and length, the existing siding can currently serve only the two adjacent business properties. The spur’s cost and limited usefulness became a bone of contention on the Riverhead Town Board after Sean Walter took office as supervisor in 2010. He called it a “bridge to nowhere” and said he was “furious” the town spent more than $5 million on a rail spur that served just two businesses. The rail spur and other challenges reflect a broader reality: despite years of debate, EPCAL still lacks a clearly defined future.***About nine months after Southold Town Board members first said they would consider supporting Greenport’s effort to study the feasibility of an affordable housing complex at Clark’s Beach, the town appears unlikely this week to back the effort. Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that the Village of Greenport has been putting together an application to the Long Island Forward Housing Program (LIFHP) to study the feasibility of housing at Clark’s Beach, a nine-acre Soundfront property containing the village’s sewer outfall pipe that is owned by Greenport Village but is outside of its boundaries. Three other properties within the village are also slated to be studied. The technical assistance grant requires the municipality to provide sites that could accommodate at least 50 units of housing, and the potential sites within the village don’t add up to 50 units.Without the town’s assistance, the village’s entire study has been in limbo since the summer of 2025, and Long Island Forward recently confirmed that the Clark’s Beach portion of the application would have to come from the municipality with zoning authority over the property, not the municipality that owns the property causing a further setback.Thus, even though Greenport Village owns the property, it has no control over the zoning of the property, which is governed by Southold Town.***Rescheduled due to the February blizzard, Southold Town Historian Amy Folk will be at the Cutchogue-New Suffolk Library this Sunday at 2 p.m. to share her insights into “Southold During the Revolutionary War.”Everyone knows how we fought the British and won during the American Revolution. But do you know what happened in Southold during the war? Come join Amy Folk, Southold Town Historian, and learn what happened on Long Island’s North Fork during the Revolution. Sponsored by the Cutchogue-New Suffolk Historical Council & Museums.Sunday’s lecture is free.While at the library get your Suffolk County 250th Semiquincentennial passbook stamped by The Cutchogue New Suffolk Historical Society & Museums.***New Yorkers could get rebates to offset soaring utility bills under plans the Democrat-led State Legislature unveiled this week.It’s an idea Republicans say they initiated but are happy to see appearing to gain steam.Yancey Roy reports in NEWSDAY that the proposed rebate was just one of hundreds of ideas put forward as the majority Democrats in the State Senate and Assembly published their "one house" versions of a state budget. The documents are in response to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $260 billion proposal from earlier this year and set the parameters for lawmakers to negotiate a 2026-27 fiscal plan by...