MAJOR RECREATION PROJECTS GET GO-AHEAD IN GREENPORT

Mike McCagg

ccSCOOP News

06-03-10 - 2:25 p.m. - Two long-standing recreation projects in Greenport received the go-head from the Town Planning Board this month.

Greenport Crossing, the hotel and recreational facility proposed for Route 66, and the first phase of construction of the Hudson Park baseball and softball facility on Route 23 received Planning Board approval during its May 18 meeting.

The Greenport Crossing project, planned for the former V&O Press building, involves a 100-room hotel with a 52,000-square-foot entertainment center and a separate retail facility between on Route 66 between Healy Boulevard and Route 23B. The hotel will include a restaurant and conference rooms, to be used for weddings and parties as well as for meetings. The attached two-story entertainment center will include a bowling alley, an indoor play area, a climbing wall, a laser tag facility, an arcade, and a sports bar. The plan also includes a gas station and convenience store on property subdivided from the larger development..

Developer Harbalwant Singh told ccSCOOP on Thursday that he is "very pleased" to clear the Planning Board hurdle. "We are now working on the development and financing processes," said Singh. He said he is hoping to break ground on at least one of the three elements of the project—the hotel, gas station, or entertainment complex—later this year. But, he added, which element will be constructed first and when construction will begin will be determined by the demolition process and what is found in test borings.

The complex had been in the planning stage for nearly a year, with town officials expressing concern about likely pollution at the former industrial site. In March, Singh presented an environmental management plan that calls for a representative of Labelle Associates to be on the site throughout the construction process. The Albany-based firm will provide weekly updates to the Greenport Planning Board and to the Greenport Code Enforcement Office about contaminants found on the site and measures taken to deal with them.

Town Engineer Paul McCreary and the Planning Board had repeatedly pressed Singh to develop a plan for dealing with potential contaminants at the site. A preliminary report found several types of metals on the site and asbestos—all consistent with the previous use of the site as a metal pressing operation.

The Hudson Park facility—located on the site of the former Sunset Drive-in Theater—has been in the planning stages for years, and developers returned to the Planning Board in January with an amendment to the plan for the 160-acre facility. As a result of the economy, the developers sought and received this month approval to change Phase 1 of the project to include only the construction of two baseball fields and two softball fields. The original plan called for the construction of dormitories and four baseball fields, as well as lighting for some of the fields. By eliminating the dormitories from Phase 1, there is a significant reduction in upfront costs for water and wastewater treatment, as well as utilities and related expenses in creating housing for traveling athletes, Burke St. John, one of the developers of the project, told the Planning Board.

He also said that by adding softball fields to the initial phase, the project taps into the exploding girls' softball market. Project developers hope to have the fields in place by next spring.