NEWS-REVIEW FILE PHOTO | An aerial view of Calverton Enterprise Park, looking south.

Trees or grass?

That’s a question Riverhead Town officials will have to wrestle with at the Enterprise Park at Calverton, according to Supervisor Sean Walter.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation “potentially wants us to take back some of the early succession forest at EPCAL to create grasslands,” Mr. Walter told the News-Review.

This could mean cutting down about 50 acres of full-grown evergreen trees on the eastern portion of EPCAL in order to create a new grasslands on a site just south of land where a garbage transfer station is proposed, and where a garbage-by-rail plan was proposed 10 years ago.

The town has already agreed to maintain existing grasslands at EPCAL in the areas adjacent to both runways, and preserve them as a habitat for migrating birds, including the endangered short-eared owl.

On the western runway, which is inactive, the town has agreed at the DEC’s request not only to preserve existing grasslands, but also to cover the runway with sand and plant grass over it to create additional grassland habitat.

The 7,000-foot western runway is no longer used for aviation. The 10,000-foot eastern runway is still used for aviation, but the town’s draft plan for subdividing EPCAL into 50 lots would see that runway shortened.

Mr. Walter said not everyone supports the idea of cutting down trees for grass. State Senator Ken LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) prefers keeping the trees, the supervisor said, as does Andrew Sabin of East Hampton, whom the town is allowing to conduct a salamander study at EPCAL.

“I’m not in favor of it, either,” Mr. Walter said.

“Early succession” forest is a scientific term used to describe land that is in a transition period between grassland and forest.

“If we did nothing on the existing grasslands, we’d have woods there in 20 years,” Mr. Walter said. “But if we do the subdivision, we’re going to have to maintain the grasslands that are there.”

He said the town’s development plan for EPCAL would end up preserving about 600 of the approximately 650 acres of grasslands at EPCAL.

The area where trees would potentially be cut down is just south of the Calverton Industries property, where a group called East End Recycling and Composting has a pending site plan application before the town to build a 315,000-square-foot garbage transfer station and indoor composting facility. East End Recycling has a valid DEC solid waste permit for the site that dates back to the late 1990s, and would rent 10 acres there to build the proposed facility.

At a town work session in 2003, Calverton Industries’ principal Michael Cholowsky had proposed extending the EPCAL rail spur through the EPCAL property so garbage collected on his property could be taken out by rail. No formal application was ever made and the spur wasn’t even operating at the time.

John Cameron of East End Recycling told the News-Review last year that his company has no plans to use freight to take garbage to or from the proposed facility.

East End Recycling’s site plan application was filed more than two years ago and has not been approved.

“I don’t even know if that project is moving forward,” Mr. Walter said.

tgannon@timesreview.com

Matt Kapelas

Northforker.com will be updated multiple times each day with information on the region’s wineries, farm products, hotels and restaurants, real estate, arts and music scenes, as well as outdoor and educational activities for children and adults.

The newsgroup’s popular magazine supplements are also in the process of being incorporated under the northforker brand.

Leading these efforts is Matt Kapelas, former longtime managing editor of Long Island Pulse magazine, who was hired earlier this month. He started at Pulse after its fourth issue in 2005 and helped build the Patchogue-based publication into what is today one of the larger regional magazines in the U.S., with 100,000 monthly copies distributed across Suffolk and Nassau counties.

“As a lifelong resident of Suffolk County, I’ve always looked at the North Fork as the last vestige of true Long Island,” said Mr. Kapelas, who lives in Ridge.

“The potential of Northforker.com and Northforker magazines to enhance the lives of the area’s residents and visitors alike is something I’m grateful to be a part of.”

“We have published tourism-based content for decades in print,” added publisher Andrew Olsen, “and we are excited to package this content in a compelling way on the web with this new site.”

Sonja Reinholt Derr, the company’s sales and marketing director, said northforker.com will provide the inside scoop on everything there is to do on the North Fork, with the “when” and the “how” all readily available at readers’ fingertips.

Kael Goodman, CEO of BlankSlate, a tech company out of Brooklyn, developed the site along with Times/Review Newsgroup staffers.

“Our team really sees the potential in the Northforker website as people local to the community as well as tourists need a place to learn about all the great things happening in this area,” Mr. Goodman said. “The North Fork is incredibly unique and Times/Review is uniquely positioned to deliver a site like this.”

The company’s news editors and reporters will be involved in helping to grow northforker.com.

“Just like we provide timely, in-depth coverage of our schools, governments and neighborhoods in our papers,” said executive editor Grant Parpan said, “this website and the magazines will allow us to cover food, wine, real estate and tourism on the North Fork with a heightened focus and attention to timeliness.”

Times Review Classifieds: May 23, 2013

FILE PHOTOS | Jeff Smith, left, and Terri Boyle Romanelli launched write-in campaigns for Tuesday’s Mattituck-Cutchogue school board race. Mr. Smith won with 79 votes.

More than 24 hours after polls closed in the write-in race for an open seat on the Mattituck-Cutchogue Board of Education, district officials have not yet released the results of the race.

So far they’ve said former school board member Jeff Smith was elected to the open seat with 79 write-in votes, but no other results have been disclosed.

The write-in race became necessary when board member Janique Nine opted to not seek re-election. Incumbent William Gatz was the only person on the ballot and was elected to the other open seat Tuesday night.

Although Terri Boyle Romanelli also launched a write-in campaign, a district official said Tuesday night the school isn’t legally required to release the rest of the write-in results if the winner accepts the nomination.

In an interview Wednesday, Ms. Romanelli said she respects Mr. Smith and she would have voted for him if he had been on the regular ballot.

“I am happy for him if he won, but I am very competitive,” she said. “I want to see what the votes really were.”

Ms. Romanelli said she’s questioning the write-in vote total because her maiden name is Boyle and she changed it about six months ago when she married husband Paul Romanelli. In addition, her children’s last names are Ackermann.

“I have so many names,” she said. “I am trying to get the results. Maybe Terry Ackerman got 40 and Terri Boyle got 50, and I actually won.”

Mr. McKenna said Wednesday that if voters wrote in different names to identify the same person the different names would be counted separately.

“The law says it has to be the same name,” he said. “We can’t assume it’s the same person. So if you use an initial rather than a name you can’t make an assumption. It has to be identical in order to count that vote.”

A New York State Department of Education spokesperson declined to comment on the Mattituck election Wednesday. Instead, she referred to a section of the School Law Handbook, a joint publication of the NYS School Boards Association and the NYS Bar Association.

“Write-in ballots with minor misspellings of a candidate’s name should be credited to that candidate in the absence of a showing that there is another district resident with the same or a similar name,” according to the section.

The Suffolk Times submitted a Freedom of Information Law request with the district seeking the complete write-in results of the election shortly after noon Wednesday. While the district acknowledged receipt of the request, the results have not yet been returned.

cmiller@timesreview.com

CARRIE MILLER PHOTO | Election officials count the write-in results Tuesday night.

Some things make us gently scratch our heads and other things make us want to claw straight through to our brains.

The Mattituck-Cutchogue School District’s decision not to release the results of a write-in election for a vacant Board of Education seat certainly falls into the latter category.

When a woman present Tuesday night as the district released the balloting results requested a tally of the write-in votes, school officials declined to disclose them, saying only that former board member Jeff Smith had won and accepted the post.

When a Suffolk Times reporter followed up with a district administrator, the answer given was that the district does not have to release the results as long as the winner accepts the position. She assured us that Mr. Smith had won by a wide margin.

Now, we’re not so naive as to believe that school districts are beacons of transparency, but we can’t comprehend why a district would believe it’s OK to withhold the results of any election.

When we followed up again Wednesday morning, Superintendent James McKenna said that to receive the vote totals, we’d have to fill out a Freedom of Information request — a step typically reserved for obtaining information school districts don’t want people who read newspapers to know about.

We don’t doubt Mr. Smith won the election, and we understand that the process of tallying write-in votes can be difficult, but the public has a right to know all the details.

So we ask the Mattituck district: Why on earth would you not want to reveal to taxpayers, who pay your salaries, the full results of an election?

JENNIFER GUSTAVSON PHOTO | Riley Avenue School in Calverton.

To the Editor:

With graduation approaching, I cannot forget the dedication, inspiration and guidance of specific teachers and programs that tremendously benefited our son, Carlos.

While I have often railed against the unsustainability of the benefits and retirement packages at the expense of the beleaguered taxpayer, as well as the general edge that government workers have over those in the private sector these days, the aviation program provided by BOCES through the Southold School District and specific mentors set the stage for a truly exciting and richly rewarding career start for Carlos.

With over 2,000 flight hours already logged and positions from Guam to Ottawa, including flight instruction, first captain and advanced training of other pilots, he has been able to follow his dream.

An early mentor, Mrs. Madigan at the Riley Avenue Elementary School in Calverton channeled some of his apparent attention deficit issues in kindergarten into model rocket building and launching, which captivated him. Later on, after he made the cut into the aviation program, Mr. Dzenkowski was a role model and mentor.

Because of his and others’ dedication, and Carlos’ interest and aptitude for aviation, Carlos earned his private pilot’s license before graduating and was the keynote speaker at the aviation graduation ceremony. All this helped turn a youth who was not particularly thrilled with traditional academics into a good college student with an ongoing passion for aviation and a dedicated purpose in life.

This is all more than I could ever have foreseen during some of the more trying times early on. So, yes, for some graduates who may not have developed a clear idea of what kind of career they would like, or even what their skills and aptitudes are, I would always recommend looking into government work. But for other, such as our son, who have abiding passions, I recommend first following up on what they’re passionate about.

I’m sure they also have had mentors that they and their families will remember for years to come.

Thanks to the schools and teachers who made it possible for Carlos to embark on a rewarding career. At least for now.

Harry Katz, SOUTHOLD

To read more letters to the editor, pick of copy of this week’s News-Review on newsstands or click on the E-Paper.

Over the two-day competition between Monday and Wednesday, Dwyer tallied 1,987 points.

“She might be one of the toughest girls I’ve ever met,” said Mattituck coach Chris Robinson.

Dwyer injured her ankle on the same track she ran on Wednesday at Connetquot High School.

Dwyer jumped 13-05 on the long jump and ran 2:54.87 in the 800 for the final two events Wednesday. On Monday she ran 19.10 in the 100, high jumped 4-04 and threw 28 1/4 in the shot put.

Mattituck eighth-grader Alya Ayoub was a huge surprise taking fifth in the long jump. Ayoub wasn’t even originally supposed to compete in the event. She was seeded 19th in the event and the top 18 qualified for the division meet. But after one jumper had to back out, Ayoub got to take her spot.

She made the most of her opportunity, jumping 15-8 for fifth place, beating her previous best by about a foot.

McGann-Mercy was 11th in D-III with 18 points. Junior Danisha Carter was third in the 100 in 13.02 and fourth in the 200 in 26.55. Junior Delina Auciello ran the 2,000 steeplechase and finished third in 7:38.19.

joew@timesreview.com

GARRET MEADE PHOTO | Mattituck’s Joe Tardif went 4 for 5 and scored four runs in Wednesday’s win over Center Moriches.

SUFFOLK COUNTY CLASS B TOURNAMENT | TUCKERS 11, RED DEVILS 7

In the double-elimination world of the Suffolk County Class B baseball tournament, this amounted to a good, old-fashioned do-over. Five days after they played each other in their first playoff game, Mattituck and Center Moriches were foes once again, on even ground, each with a loss and no margin for error. Once again, they had their No. 1 pitchers facing each other.

However, the differences were striking in this rematch on Wednesday. The first playoff game was about the pitchers; this game was about the hitters. And, oh yeah, this time Mattituck won.

Joe Tardif went 4 for 5 and scored four runs, Marcos Perivolaris drove in four runs, and third-seeded Mattituck eliminated No. 2 Center Moriches from the playoffs, 11-7, at Center Moriches High School’s Coach Paul Gibson Varsity Baseball Field. James Nish added two runs batted in for the Tuckers.

“We had our backs against the wall. We had to win this game,” said Tardif, the freshman center fielder who equaled his career-high with four hits in the game.

In order to win the double-elimination county tournament, Mattituck would need to defeat No. 1 Southampton twice in Southampton. The teams will play on Saturday. If Mattituck wins, they will face each other again on Tuesday for the title. Southampton played Mattituck three times this year, beating the Tuckers each time.

Some good hitting would come in handy for Mattituck (15-8). In Friday’s game, Mattituck and Center Moriches combined for one run and three hits as Mattituck junior Cameron Burt pitched a no-hitter, and lost! On Wednesday, the teams combined for 18 runs and 22 hits. Fourteen of those hits came off Mattituck bats, giving the Tuckers 27 hits in two games.

“Our mindset was, ‘Don’t let any pitcher beat us, just keep hitting,’ ” Perivolaris, the sophomore shortstop, said. “We didn’t stop fighting.”

Neither starting pitcher was as sharp as he was in the first playoff meeting. Burt (five innings pitched, eight hits, seven earned runs, three walks, five strikeouts) brought his record to 6-2. Center Moriches junior Patrick Bryant (four innings pitched, nine hits, three earned runs, one walk, six strikeouts) did not figure in the decision.

Mattituck twice rallied for four runs, including the sixth inning when it broke a 7-7 tie. Perivolaris bounced a two-run single into center field, making the score 9-7.

“They are a contact-hitting team,” Center Moriches coach Mike Garofola said. “They’re going to put the ball in play, so you know, you just have make pitches on them because they like to swing the bat.”

The Tuckers had taken leads of 5-3 (thanks to their four-run burst in the third) and 7-4. But one wondered if all that good work would be undone and they would be deflated by the way Center Moriches (13-10) bounced back to tie the score in the fifth.

Not a chance.

A two-run double by Sean Finnegan (three RBI) and a bad-hop single by James Schaefer brought in three Center Moriches runs, making the score 7-7. All three runs came with two outs.

No matter. Mattituck went back to work producing runs.

“Everyone got pumped up after each hit and each run that scored,” Perivolaris said. “We answered back, and we did what we needed to do.”

It also didn’t hurt Mattituck’s cause that Center Moriches made six errors.

“Neither pitcher had great stuff today and could locate pitches like they did the first time around,” said Garofola.

Still, Garofola couldn’t complain about Bryant, who finished a superb season with a 7-1 record. “He had an off day, and he’s entitled,” Garofola said. “I would never be disappointed in him because I know he’s going to give me his maximum effort every outing.”

Meanwhile, Mattituck’s effort at the plate had to be applauded.

“We did what we needed to do,” Perivolaris said. “We got the job done.”

bliepa@timesreview.com

Suffolk’s Democrats and Republicans have both held nominating conventions, but neither party has decided who will run in November for the North Fork’s open State Assembly seat.

The Suffolk GOP met last Tuesday in Holtsville, but held off on naming a candidate for the Second Assembly district. After the convention, Republican chairman John Jay LaValle said he expected to have a candidate selected by Friday or possibly Monday.

On Monday, he said he expected a decision by Tuesday, but no candidate had been chosen by Tuesday night.

The GOP has screened a number of candidates, including Southold Councilman Chris Talbot, former Ed Romaine aide Bill Faulk of Manorville, Southold Trustee Bob Ghosio, Mattituck attorney Stephen Kiely, New Suffolk attorney Anthony Palumbo, Mount Sinai attorney Raymond Negron and John Kreutz, Brookhaven Town deputy receiver of taxes. Mr. Talbot has opted not to seek re-election to the Southold Town Board this year.

By controlling 67 percent of the district, the Brookhaven GOP would appear to have the upper hand in the selection process.

Suffolk’s Democrats gathered Monday night, but rather than select an Assembly candidate the party took the unusual step of putting the choice in the hands of the Brookhaven, Riverhead and Southold committees. The 2nd Assembly District extends from north central Brookhaven east to Fishers Island.

Riverhead’s Democrats will meet first, holding their convention Thursday night, followed by Brookhaven on May 28 and Southold on May 29.

“This appears to be a close race at this point,” said Southold Democratic chairman Art Tillman. He asked that party members not commit to any one candidate prior to the convention.

“Our small party will have greater influence if we can proceed united at this point and this requires party discipline,” the chairman said in a recent email to committee members.

As is the case with the GOP, Brookhaven’s Democrats may have the final word on the nominee.

Democratic contenders include Cutchogue winery owner Jim Waters of Manorville, Riverhead attorney John McManmon, Rocky Point attorney Jennifer Maertz, East End Arts director Pat Snyder of Jamesport, Suffolk Park Police officer Tom Schiliro of Manorville and Riverhead attorney Ron Hariri.

Ms. Maertz, who twice ran unsuccessfully for a state Senate seat, is the only candidate with prior political experience.

The Assembly seat opened up when Republican Assemblyman Dan Losquadro of Shoreham won a March special election for Brookhaven highway superintendent.

tkelly@timesreview.com

FILE PHOTO | Greenport Superintendent Michael Comanda, left, and Southold Superintendent David Gamberg recently announced a joint agreement to share a technology director.

The Southold Board of Education is expected to discuss its transportation contract and a shared-service agreement with Greenport at tonight’s regular school board meeting.

There’s a resolution on the agenda to approve a contract extension with Sunrise Busses for the 2013-14 school year. The proposal includes a 2 percent increase or the consumer price index, whichever is lower.

The board is also likely to vote on a joint agreement with Greenport schools to share a new technology director for at least the next three years.

The Greenport school board approved the agreement during its May 14 meeting to appoint Ryan Case to the post, which takes effect July 1.

The public portion of tonight’s Southold school board meeting starts at 7:30 p.m.

Scroll down to view the complete agenda. Read more in the May 30 issue of The Suffolk Times.

Southold school board meeting agenda, May 22, 2013