North Bellport warehouse complex gets OK from planning

Plans for building a complex of four warehouse-distribution buildings and trucking terminal in North Bellport advanced after the Town of Brookhaven Planning Board on Feb. 26 approved a site plan and a trucking terminal special-use permit for the proposed AIREF Station Road Logistics Center.

The action was one of the last acts by the planning board, which the town board abolished and assumed its responsibilities. Town board members voted themselves and supervisor Dan Panico a 24 percent pay raise to account for the additional work.

While the South Gate Homeowners Association and several area fire companies withdrew their opposition to the project after developers said they would replace plans for an entrance on Station Road with one on Woodside Avenue, nearby residents attended planning board meetings in September and December to ask the planning board to reject the project citing concerns about noise, truck traffic and pollution.

The developers want to build four warehouses totaling more than 528,000 square feet on the east side of Station Road and north of Sunrise Highway and south of Woodside Avenue. The project would include loading bays for 124 trucks.

The almost 52-acre site east of Station Road is already zoned for industrial use, so the developers didn’t need a zoning change. However, they did need site plan approval and a special-use permit to operate a trucking terminal, both of which the planning board granted in one of its last official acts.

The developers, who said the project would create 300 jobs, are seeking a tax break from the Brookhaven Industrial Development Agency for the project, which is located in the South Country School District.