A seven-year-old federal lawsuit filed by a company seeking to build a go-kart track in Calverton may be on the verge of a settlement. READ
Tag: F1 Long Island
A 2008 rendering of the F1 Long Island track
Gentlemen, don’t start your engines just yet! READ
A model of the planned F1 go-kart facility as it appears on the company’s website.
A proposal to build a go-kart track on Edwards Avenue in Calverton got a thumbs up from the Suffolk County Planning Commission yesterday afternoon in Hauppauge, though it did recommend further study on noise that could come from the property. (more…)
F1 Long Island is proposing to build a go-cart track in Calverton. (Credit: F1 Long Island)
The Riverhead Town Planning Board has signed off on the next step in the building-approval process for a proposed go-kart track slated for Edwards Avenue in Calverton.
A model of the planned F1 go-kart facility as it appears on the company’s website.
A settlement appears likely in two lawsuits filed by F1 Long Island against Riverhead Town in 2009, and that company now intends to proceed with its application to build a go-kart track on Edwards Avenue in Calverton.
The Riverhead Town Planning Board on Thursday rescinded a 2009 resolution it approved that rejected the final environmental impact study for F1 Long Island, a move the precipitated the lawsuits.
“There are actions pending in state and federal court, and it looks like the Town Board is possibly going to settle with the applicant,” planning board attorney Bill Duffy told the board Thursday night. “The applicant has expressed a willingness to revise his FEIS. If the board remembers, the reason this was denied in the first place was because there was a disagreement over whether their FEIS was sufficient or not, and it kind of hit a stalemate.
“Then the applicant actually requested that we deny the application so he could pursue his remedies in court, so this board accommodated him and denied it.”
Mr. Duffy said F1 Long Island has now expressed a willingness to revise its FEIS and resolve that issue.
The resolution to rescind the FEIS rejection doesn’t totally end the litigation, Mr. Duffy said.
“It’s a piece of the puzzle. The final terms of the stipulation have not been resolved, but we are taking this step with the understanding that we have an agreement in principal and that the lawsuit is going to be resolved,” he said.
Marc Leibowitz, the CEO of F1, said in an interview that he could not discuss the details of the proposed settlement, but confirmed the company intended to proceed with the application.
“We are looking forward to the leadership that’s at the town now to make sure things are done correctly,” he said. “We want to build this. There’s been a lot of groundswell for this project. People are asking for it more than ever.”
F1’s proposal to build a go-kart track and clubhouse on 12 acres just south of FedEx on the west side of Edwards Avenue was rejected by the town Planning Board in 2009 on the grounds that the environmental impact study F1 submitted for the project didn’t contain enough information on the facility’s potential noise and traffic impacts.
Mr. Leibowitz filed a federal civil rights lawsuit, citing, among other things, that the town had allowed a Hampton Jitney bus terminal just to the south of F1’s property without requiring the same conditions it was requiring of F1.
Riverhead Town Board members plan to once again submit a resolution to deny Driftwood Family Farm’s application to export 415,160 cubic yards of material from its 42-acre property on Main Road in Calverton.
The board had planned to do so at its Sept. 4 meeting, but held off on voting after the applicant submitted a new letter from the State Agriculture and Markets department indicating that the property is considered agricultural. But the denial resolution, slightly revised, was discussed again during the board’s work session Thursday. Board members discussed resolutions for Tuesday’s regular meeting, where they plan to submit the new resolution.
Councilman John Dunleavy, who had supported Driftwood’s plans, now says he plans to vote against it.
The board also discussed a resolution to remove several pages of town-owned property from their “fixed asset records.”
Among the items on the list are a 1987 Chevy van, a 2002 GEM electric car, three tasers from the police department and several computer printers, monitors and mice. Officials say they can’t find these items, and they were probably discarded by department heads in the past without properly documenting that they were discarded.
To see what else was discussed at the work session, click below to follow reporter Tim Gannon’s blog of the meeting.
A federal judge recently rejected a motion made by Riverhead Town to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the town by F1 Long Island, the company that has long proposed building a go-kart racing complex off Edwards Avenue in Calverton.
The F1 group also rejected the town’s offer to settle.
F1 Long Island filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Riverhead in 2009, claiming that the town singled it out “to enforce and modify laws that are not being applied to anyone else similarly situated,” according to court documents.
The lawsuit claims the town deliberately stalled F1’s application but granted special permit approval for a proposed Hampton Jitney bus terminal further south on Edwards Avenue — a use F1 maintains would create more noise and be more intense than its proposed tracks.
The lawsuit claims the town denied F1 “exactly what they granted to Hampton Jitney.”
F1’s suit points to a 2005 town Zoning Board of Appeals decision that found the proposed track was a permitted use under the property’s zoning, while the bus terminal required a special permit in the same zone.
“We are delighted with the judge’s decision,” said F1 CEO Marc Leibowitz. “It validates what we have been saying. When the ZBA approved this use in 2005, the town should have approved our site plan shortly thereafter. Now we are seeking our site plan approval, and damages.”
F1’s proposal to build a go-kart track and clubhouse on 12 acres just south of FedEx on the west side of Edwards Avenue was rejected by the town Planning Board in 2009 on the grounds that the environmental impact study F1 submitted for the project didn’t contain enough information on the facility’s potential noise and traffic impacts.
The F1 case was actually dismissed in federal court in April 2010, but the judge allowed the company to amend and resubmit the case.
U.S. District Judge Arthur Spatt then denied the town’s motion to dismiss the revised case, saying that the F1 group demonstrated it has a “plausible” chance of succeeding with its claim showing the alleged different treatment their application received when compared to Hampton Jitney.
“The F1 case is something that should have been settled,” Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter said during an interview. “The documentation that the attorneys from F1 provided in their legal memorandum went 90 percent of the way that the Riverhead Planning Board wanted, and so, when I came into office, I suggested we settle this case, get the thing approved and move forward.”
But the F1 group rejected that offer, the supervisor said.
“The town offered to settle out of court, accept my [environmental impact study] immediately and begin the site plan review process if I dropped my federal lawsuit first, with prejudice,” Mr. Leibowitz said. “But after six years, my lawyers and partners will not let me do that.
“How could we trust them after they screwed me for six years?”
“Because there’s a new sheriff in town,” Mr. Walter responded to a reporter when told of Mr. Leibowitz’s comment.
The go-kart team remains skeptical.
“If it were not for the lawsuit, they would not ever talk with me,” Mr. Leibowitz said.
He said dropping the lawsuit “with prejudice” meant he could never sue for the same reason again.
F1 also was on the receiving end of a lawsuit filed by the owners of a neighboring horse farm and the town, alleging that F1 was illegally using the property for motorbike riding.
That lawsuit has been withdrawn and F1 has agreed not to ride near the horse farm, Mr. Leibowitz said.
F1 is still using the property for motorbike and ATV riding, according to its website, although it specifically states that the site is not open to the public and is open only to “friends and guests.”