Thursday, May 11, 2023

Program for Calverton Civic Monthly Meeting

Thursday, May 18, 6:30 p.m.

Riley Avenue Elementary School, 374 Riley Avenue, Riverhead


1)  Introduction by President of Calverton Civic  -- Toqui Terchun


2)  Goal of panel --  John McAuliff


3)  Role of EPCAL Watch  --   Rex Farr


4)  Impact on the town of a distribution hub, tractor trailers, and economics   --  Andrew Leven


5)  Impact on immediate and longer distance neighbors of air cargo flights  --   Ed Reiter


6)  Environmental issues:,  water contamination and wildlife   --  Kelly McClinchy, Pat Aitken


7)   State of play between IDA and the Town Board/CDA, SEQR   -- Kathy McGraw, Barbara Blass


8)  How do we stop it?  Suggestions for personal follow-up   --   Angela DeVito


9)  Questions and comments  -- moderated by Toqui Terchun 

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Background information


This is a follow-up to the May 3 EPCAL event at Hotel Indigo.


More than 300 people turned a CAT promotional meeting into an overwhelming rejection of announced plans by the Ghermezian family to turn EPCAL into an air cargo and trucking distribution hub.


Stories appeared in the Riverhead Local, the East End Beacon, the News Review, Newsday and on  Channel 12. An editorial in the Local nailed it "Hey, Triple Five. We get it. Do you?".


Friday, May 5, 2023

EPCAL Flyers

 

               

Calverton Aviation and Technology (CAT), owned by the controversial Ghermezian family, wants to build an air cargo distribution hub at the EPCAL site in Riverhead and has asked the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency (RIDA) to help fund it.

This project will involve frequent domestic and international flights that change our quality of life, ruin our peace and quiet, and depress property values for at least a ten mile radius…New Suffolk, Remsenburg, Shirley, Miller Place.

The plan includes:

  • activation of both runways for air cargo planes
  • construction of 10M square feet of logistics warehouses including flex buildings and distribution centers
  • thousands of tractor trailers trucks which will spill onto already clogged roads
  • new taxiways that will destroy acres of DEC identified prime grasslands impacting threatened birds species; stormwater runoff will impact endangered amphibian species living in the geologically rare kettle ponds
  • construction will cause disturbance of already contaminated soils and alter the movement of the already contaminated water
  • additional contamination from airport and industrial operations will further impact our drinking water.

·         heavily automated warehouses that pay relatively low non-union wages

 

·         1600 resalable acres of land for $40,000,000, substantially below market value

 

·         removal of 1000 protected acres from the public good, subject to corporate economic priorities. 

 

The Riverhead Industrial Development Agency (RIDA) must not consider offering public money for this speculative development until all other regulatory approvals are in place. 

 

What can you do?

 

·         Stop by our booth, number 64, near Tweeds Restaurant if you have questions, for printed information and to join our campaign to save our communities.

 

·         Participate in a public program with EPCAL Watch hosted by the Heart of Riverhead Civic 6:30 – 8 p.m., August 17, Vail Leavitt Theater, Riverhead.

 

·         Invite EPCAL Watch to speak to your civic, homeowners’ association, religious institution or social club.

 

·         Tell RIDA and Town Board members how you feel by e-mail and letters, if you cross paths in person and by signing our petition.  https://www.change.org/saveEPCALnow

 

·         During the election campaign, ask all candidates for supervisor and town board what their position is on EPCAL and on an air cargo distribution hub.   If RIDA says no and it comes back to the town board, will they vote to declare the contract null and void?

 

·         If you are not a Riverhead resident, talk to neighbors and friends and contact your own elected officials so they embrace and forward concerns of the region to Riverhead authorities.

 

·         Tell us you can make a contribution if we have to go to court to stop an air cargo hub.

 

·         If you have a home in Riverhead, don’t forget to vote on November 7.   If your residence here is seasonal, protect it by registering to vote in Riverhead for this election, completely legal under NY state law.

 

EPCAL Watch        epcalwatch@gmail.com        Follow EPCAL Watch on Facebook

 

RESOURCES

CAT / Ghermezian plans for a jetport cargo distribution hub                                               https://riverheadlocal.com/2022/09/22/air-cargo-logistics-hub-in-calverton-planned-by-triple-five-affiliate-to-enhance-package-delivery-services-on-long-island/

Compilation of investigative articles in Riverhead Local                                               https://riverheadlocal.com/2023/05/01/triple-five-timeline/

OPINION | EDITORIAL  “ Hey, Triple Five. We get it. Do you?”                                                    https://riverheadlocal.com/2023/05/07/hey-triple-five-we-get-it-do-you/

“Might Calverton become an Amazon Air hub in the future? Long Island is a ‘unique difficulty’ for Amazon, researchers say”  https://riverheadlocal.com/2023/05/26/might-calverton-become-an-amazon-air-hub-in-the-future-long-island-is-a-unique-difficulty-for-amazon-researchers-say/

“Federal court green-lights adding Nader Ghermezian as defendant in civil racketeering lawsuit over counterfeit hand sanitizer”  https://riverheadlocal.com/2023/06/05/federal-court-green-lights-adding-nader-ghermezian-as-defendant-in-civil-racketeering-lawsuit-over-counterfeit-hand-sanitizer/

Letters from EPCAL Watch to RIDA and the Town Board, opinion pieces by members                      https://saveepcal.blogspot.com/2023/04/epcal-watch-letters-and-articles-re-ida.html


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Save EPCAL from an air cargo    distribution hub



The only way to truly protect 1,000 environmentally sensitive acres at EPCAL as demanded by 7,049 petition signers is to stop the whole discredited deal.  Otherwise, the Ghermezian family plans to build an air cargo distribution hub at EPCAL.

When the Ghermezians made their case to the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency (RIDA), everyone (apparently including the Town Board!) discovered that their actual intended use of the land is no longer high paying technology jobs or creating a Silicon Valley of the East. 

As you can see in their own architect's rendering above, they want to build ten million square feet of distribution, warehouse and support buildings around the 10,000 and 7,000 foot runways. Large cargo jets will land to unload on one side of the warehouses.  Tractor trailers that line up on the other side will clog our roads.  (A 680,000 sq ft Amazon warehouse in California and a smaller warehouse next door together generated nearly 6,000 vehicle trips per day, including more than 2,300 diesel truck trips.)

Imagine the contamination from noise and jet fumes of EPCAL's natural treasures and the impact on the quality of life (and property values) of thousands of east end residents.   Aviation reports say jet cargo planes will be at 1500 to 2000 feet of altitude within five miles of the runways,  i.e. as far east as Mattituck and Hampton Bays and as far west as  Pt. Jefferson and Patchogue.  By the time they are over Calverton and Rocky Point, the planes will be flying at less than 1000 feet.

We know this only because the Riverhead Town Board without legal precedent handed over its authority to RIDA to avoid the mess it got into with the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Suffolk County Water Authority about subdivision of the land. 

RIDA is supposed to objectively evaluate the development plan of the Ghermezians and their financial viability to complete it--despite the debacle of their heavily indebted American Dream mall in New Jersey and allegations of fraud, trademark violations and chemical contamination of an imported sanitizer product during Covid.

RIDA could not begin its investigation because the Ghermezians were late in transferring operating funds and financial information.  But RIDA foretold its conclusion prior to any due diligence by telling an auditor that the deal would close in October.   It needs to honor its own deadlines and find the Ghermezians in default which will bring the EPCAL nightmare to an end.

All IDAs are inherently compromised by dependence on applicant fees from closings and follow-up. RIDA was explicit to the auditor that it relied on the EPCAL closing to "continue as a going concern".

RIDA has given the Ghermazians the opportunity to once again put lipstick on a pig and explain why their representatives didn't mean what they told the IDA.

After you hear their latest spin tonight, if you are not satisfied, please send an e-mail or a letter to Tracy Stark-James, director of the IDA  <director@riverheadida.org>  Copy it to the Town Board <wilhelm@townofriverheadny.gov> and to <epcalwatch@gmail.com> 

The IDA must turn down all tax abatements and refuse to authorize the CAT project. The Town Board, as constituted now, or on taking office after the November election, must commit itself to declare null and void this unfortunate contract. 

The newly elected Supervisor and Board must start fresh in discussion with the public to conceive and sell environmentally self-sustaining, economically productive, and community responsible use of the 600 acres of developable land at a fair market price.  They must guarantee for our children and grandchildren the undamaged preservation of the 1,000 irreplaceable acres.

       *************************************************************************

RESOURCES

  • A summary of the last six years of the EPCAL saga is https://saveepcal.blogspot.com/2023/04/a-summary-history-of-epcal-deal.html
  • "Air cargo logistics hub in Calverton planned by Triple Five affiliate to enhance package delivery services on Long Island"  https://riverheadlocal.com/2022/09/22/air-cargo-logistics-hub-in-calverton-planned-by-triple-five-affiliate-to-enhance-package-delivery-services-on-long-island/
  • "Audit reveals Riverhead IDA anticipates October closing with Calverton Aviation & Technology, for major boost to agency’s sagging bottom line" https://riverheadlocal.com/2023/04/06/audit-reveals-riverhead-ida-anticipates-october-closing-with-calverton-aviation-technology-for-major-boost-to-agencys-sagging-bottom-line/
  • The latest version of the Ghermezians' plan for public consumption is here https://riverheadida.org/pdf/projects/CATIH_Business_Plan_Revised_Exhibit_B.pdf
  • "Town Board members claim they didn’t see controversial EPCAL air cargo plans before they were publicly presented to Riverhead IDA"  https://riverheadlocal.com/2023/04/26/town-board-members-claim-they-didnt-see-controversial-epcal-air-cargo-plans-before-they-were-publicly-presented-to-riverhead-ida/
  • A compilation of articles by the Riverhead Local https://riverheadlocal.com/2023/05/01/triple-five-timeline/
  • Letters and articles from EPCAL Watch https://saveepcal.blogspot.com/2023/04/epcal-watch-letters-and-articles-re-ida.html

 

EPCAL Watch     

156 Youngs Avenue Riverhead, New York 11901   epcalwatch@gmail.com     631.369.8237


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Riverhead’s EPCAL Misadventure with Luminati, Calverton Aviation  & Technology (CAT) and the Ghermezians (Triple 5)

                                                                   


1)  In 2017 over one thousand environmentally sensitive acres were added to a proposed sale of 600 acres to Luminati Corporation, owned by the late Daniel Preston, absent significant public discussion by the single party but divided Town Board.  The new contract also included two massive runways that had not previously been a part of the deal.  There was no increase to the $40,000,000 sale price.  After Mr. Preston’s resume and financial backing were exposed as fictitious, he abandoned Riverhead, leaving behind debts and unfulfilled commitments.

2) The Ghermezian family operating through corporate entities of Triple Five suddenly appeared, taking advantage of the special deal given to Mr.  Preston in a contract approved at the final meeting of that Board.  Although purporting to follow Preston’s development plan and make use of his reputed scientific expertise, Triple Five marginalized him as a 25% non-voting partner in CAT and paid his debt to the town. The original corporate structure for the development group was replaced without a new letter of intent.

3)  In 2018-2019, the new Town Board decided that CAT was Qualified and Eligible to purchase EPCAL without public financial disclosure because Triple Five is privately owned by the Ghermezian family, the 75% partner.

4)  In 2018, a member of the Board met privately in New York with representatives of the Ghermezian family.  EPCAL Watch felt strongly that this meeting was highly inappropriate and appealed to the Town Ethics Committee asking recusal based on conflict of interest.  The Committee decided that the Board member was not constrained by State ethics guidelines for hearings.  If she had recused, a 2-2 tie would have terminated the contract.

5)  The Town Board majority continued to refuse to consider the history of the Ghermezian family in alleged corruption in Las Vegas, its hard ball politics in a Miami mall project, exploitation of host towns, and massive political donations in New Jersey to obtain permission to build the American Dream Mall west of the Hudson River. 

6)  In 2020-2021, the Town Board and the Riverhead Chamber of Commerce gave credulity to an Israeli company Arieli Capital introduced by the Ghermezians, a shareholder, that would solve their financial and technological development problems.  Arieli also was discredited and has disappeared from CAT presentations.  Additionally in 2021, the Brookhaven IDA moved to terminate its agreement with the Ghermezians because their company could not fulfill its obligations.

7)   Continuing into 2022-2023, the next Town Board did not address seriously the financial crisis facing the Ghermezians because of the debacle and deep indebtedness of the American Dream mall.  Board members accepted uncritically over the past six years the Ghermezians legally misleading rationalization of the separation of Triple Five linked corporations controlled by the family and thus of any negative financial impact on EPCAL’s future development.  They ignored the alleged criminality of a family company’s sale of counterfeit chemically dangerous sanitizers during covid.

8)  Rather than exercise its clear authority to terminate a contract disparaged by the supervisor herself, in an effort to circumvent DEC permit regulations the current Town Board concocted a leasing scheme to turn over its authority to the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency.  The inherent problems in that arrangement are outlined in opinion pieces linked below.

9)  After six years of promoting its intention to create high paying aerospace and technology jobs, "the Silicon Valley of the East", the Ghermezians’ representatives revealed in a presentation to the RIDA that the real development plan (as also seen on an earlier "unauthorized" design) is a jet cargo hub with 8.4 million square feet of logistics and distribution buildings along the two runways left by Grumman. 

10)  The Town Board’s tolerance of the Ghermezians’ diversions and misrepresentations through CAT has blocked the ability to act on behalf of the taxpayers and seek other projects and developers for EPCAL and to encourage more creative and positive thinking about use of an irreplaceable natural resource.

11)  A RIDA board meeting revealed that its governance committee met in January and in March of 2023 to review the CAT application for RIDA benefits.  This was done behind closed doors and without the full RIDA board involved in its discussions.  A RIDA auditor letter suggests prejudgment of an October closing and potential conflict of interest because of financial benefit.

12)  The current Supervisor confirmed that the contract (which came from Luminati’s computer) is the worst contract that she, as a professional realtor, has ever seen and that nothing in it prevents the Ghermezians from flipping the property.

Additional resources

Agreement of Sale  December 28, 2017   document958092538030718.pdf (municipalone.com)                                                                                                           

Letter to the Riverhead Town Board from EPCAL Watch September 21, 2020               https://saveepcal.blogspot.com/2020/09/epcalwatch-coalition-156-youngs-avenue.html

Nader Ghermezian, chairman of Triple Five, denounces the Town Board   https://youtu.be/7R-CTtt5FVM

Resolution and Letter of Agreement between Riverhead CDA and CAT for joint application to RIDA                         2022-03-09-CDAResolutionforEPCALtransfer1505120824030922PM.pdf (municipalone.com)                   2022-03-03-LetterfromCATreEPCALsale1505120916030922PM.pdf (municipalone.c

CAT / Ghermezian plans for a jetport cargo distribution hub                                               https://riverheadlocal.com/2022/09/22/air-cargo-logistics-hub-in-calverton-planned-by-triple-five-affiliate-to-enhance-package-delivery-services-on-long-island/

Systemic organizational and financial problems of Riverhead IDA                                           https://riverheadlocal.com/2023/04/17/is-the-riverhead-ida-serving-the-publics-interest-with-many-big-projects-about-seek-agency-benefits-the-answer-is-critical/

Civil racketeering lawsuit against Ghermezians for importing counterfeit and contaminated sanitizer during Covid. https://riverheadlocal.com/2023/06/05/federal-court-green-lights-adding-nader-ghermezian-as-defendant-in-civil-racketeering-lawsuit-over-counterfeit-hand-sanitizer/

“Might Calverton become an Amazon Air hub in the future? Long Island is a ‘unique difficulty’ for Amazon, researchers say”  https://riverheadlocal.com/2023/05/26/might-calverton-become-an-amazon-air-hub-in-the-future-long-island-is-a-unique-difficulty-for-amazon-researchers-say/

OPINION | EDITORIAL   Hey, Triple Five. We get it. Do you?                                                    https://riverheadlocal.com/2023/05/07/hey-triple-five-we-get-it-do-you/

Compilation of investigative articles in Riverhead Local                                               https://riverheadlocal.com/2023/05/01/triple-five-timeline/

Letters from EPCAL Watch to IDA and opinion pieces by members                      https://saveepcal.blogspot.com/2023/04/epcal-watch-letters-and-articles-re-ida.html

 

EPCAL Watch                      epcalwatch@gmail.com    

history compiled by John McAuliff   jmcauliff@gmail.com