$5.4M In Funds Awarded To Kings Park Business Sewer Project By Suffolk

KINGS PARK, NY — Suffolk County provided the Kings Park Business Sewer District Project with $5.4 million in funds in an effort to get the project over the finish line, Executive Steve Bellone announced Friday.

A $20 million state grant funded most of the project, while Sen. Chuck Schumer secured an additional $3 million for the Town of Smithtown.

Sewers are critical to unleashing the economic potential of the community while also ensuring environmental sustainability, according to the county.

"This is a big day for the Kings Park community," Bellone said. "Sewers are coming to Kings Park in this downtown, not in the future, but now. This year. 2023. That is a really, really big deal."

The groundbreaking is set for a few weeks from now, according to Bellone. All levels of government came together to work on the infrastructure project, which Bellone said is a result of the Kings Park community's vision.

"This great day, this historic day for the community, and it also highlights how much more we need to do," he said.

Bellone pointed to the water quality "crisis" in the region, adding 360,000 homes in the region are operating on old septic tanks and cesspools.

"We have to address this in a way that is affordable for homeowners," Bellone said. "This burden cannot be placed on them. And so, that's critically important."

Wastewater infrastructure is important to the county's economic future, he said.

"The bottom line is, without investments in sewers and wastewater infrastructure, we cannot have a prosperous future in this region," Bellone said. "We cannot reverse the decades of decline that we've seen in water quality or make the investments that are necessary to create the kind of vibrancy that communities have envisioned for their downtowns."

Other projects need to be done in the Town of Smithtown and Suffolk, but the Kings Park sewer infrastructure reflects what Bellone said needs to happen across the county.

Smithtown Supervisor Edward Wehrheim, a Kings Park resident, thanked Bellone and the county for the sewer grant. Wehrheim said other projects are in the works for his township and noted St. James going from 33 vacant storefronts to three.

"The future is bright for the Town of Smithtown as far as economic development goes, economic success, and especially just as important, environmental issues to clean up our water," Wehrheim said.

The Town of Smithtown in October 2021 sent a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul asking for funds to bolster the town's sewer infrastructure. The lack of sewers had stifled the potential of Smithtown's business district for decades, contributing to numerous vacant storefronts, the town stated in 2021.