Harbor Road repair standstill: Brookhaven officials say nonprofit owns road and should move to fix it

Brookhaven Town officials expressed frustration Friday with the slow pace of rebuilding a storm-damaged Stony Brook road and dam as they called on a local nonprofit to sign documents seeking federal help so the project can move forward.

Supervisor Dan Panico and other Brookhaven officials, at a news conference in Farmingville, displayed enlarged copies of documents that they said show Stony Brook nonprofit Ward Melville Heritage Organization owns Harbor Road, which was partially washed out  Aug. 19 when a rainstorm destroyed a century-old dam that supports the road.

The damage to Harbor Road is along a 200-foot section atop the dam. The road straddles the Brookhaven-Smithtown town border, with the western section in the Village of Head of the Harbor.

Brookhaven, Smithtown and Head of the Harbor have reached a stalemate with the nonprofit over who owns the land, Newsday has previously reported. 

Gloria Rocchio, president of the Ward Melville Heritage Organization, has said the nonprofit has commissioned title searches showing the road and dam are owned by Brookhaven.

Newsday forwarded the Brookhaven documents to Rocchio at her request, but she declined to comment on them. 

Smithtown Town Attorney Matt Jakubowski said in a statement Friday that Smithtown "does not have jurisdiction over Harbor Road." 

Head of the Harbor Mayor Michael Utevsky said the village "does not have a claim to ownership" to the section of the road that is breached, as the village property line ends between 20 and 30 feet west of where the road collapsed.

Brookhaven officials have blamed the ownership dispute for delaying the start of construction. It must be resolved to obtain Federal Emergency Management Agency funding, town officials said Friday.

"Very much like what Harbor Road is today, we've hit a dead end," Brookhaven Councilman Jonathan Kornreich said.

Stony Brook residents previously announced plans for a rally at noon Saturday to support efforts to rebuild the road.

On Friday, Panico said town and Suffolk County title searches turned up property records dating to 1699 that show neither Brookhaven nor the county owns the road and the dam. 

The records include notarized documents signed by Rocchio in the 1980s attesting that the nonprofit was the sole owner of an area including Harbor Road, the dam and pond, and parts of Head of the Harbor that also were damaged in the August storm, Panico said.

Resolving the dispute is critical because a new river has begun to form in the former pond, making reconstruction potentially more expensive, Panico said.

He added town officials are concerned about federal funding, citing statements by President Donald Trump that "call into question" whether FEMA will be shut down.

Panico said earlier this month he would seek state and county help to resolve the land dispute.

In a text message Friday, county spokesman Michael Martino said Suffolk is willing to help move the dam and road reconstruction forward.

"The county has established that it has no ownership of the road," he said, adding Suffolk officials "offered to assist WMHO by providing funding with the agreement that when WMHO receives state and federal aid, the money will be paid back to the county."

Utevsky, in an interview Tuesday, said it's vital for Harbor Road to be repaired for safety reasons, noting the damages have made it harder for residents on the east side of the village to receive medical or emergency vehicle access.

He said the village hopes all parties can come to a solution so the road can be fixed as soon as possible.

"We just want to get this done," Utevsky said.

Newsday’s Jean Paul-Salamanca contributed to this story.

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.