Town Board signals support for new paintball facility in Enterprise Park at Calverton

Paintball could be coming to the Enterprise Park at Calverton.

Riverhead Town Board members appeared to be supportive at last Thursday’s work session of a proposal from local businessman Dean Del Prete to build a paintball facility on long-unused town property west of Line Road. The proposed facility would occupy between 12 and 20 acres. 

Mr. Del Prete has run Cousins Paintball on Edwards Avenue for several years, along with four other locations in New York, New Jersey and Texas. His lease at Edwards Avenue is about to expire and he hopes to relocate the business to Enterprise Park. The move, he said, would not require removing trees.

Councilman Bob Kern said he had suggested Mr. Del Prete consider the EPCAL site, noting, with a hint of hyperbole, that the land in question “hasn’t been used in 200 years.” 

Officials plan to charge Mr. Del Prete’s company $5,000 per month to rent the property. The paintball business would operate 11 months of the year because all of the EPCAL site is closed to vistiors during January to allow for shotgun hunting of deer. 

Town attorney Anne Marine Prudenti said at last Thursday’s session that the operators would be required to net off every outdoor paintball field. Mr. Del Prete agreed to do so.

“Our primary focus is safety,” he said. “In 25 years, we’ve had very few injuries.” 

When Councilman Tim Hubbard suggested that Riverhead residents receive a discount, Mr. Del Prete replied that would be “an easy ask.”