At Hauppauge Industrial Park, Signs of a Fresh Attitude from Government – At Last.

Long Island Business News
January 2012

By David Pennetta

When plans were drawn for the Hauppauge Industrial Park some 70 years ago, enthusiasm in the Long Island business community ran high. A generation of ambitious entrepreneurs were launching high-tech companies and wanted to stay local. Developers like the Rechlers, the Racanellis and Walter Gross began redeveloping old “Antenna Park,” I.T.T’s sprawling field of satellites. Robert Moses extended Northern State Parkway to Hauppauge in 1965, opening the complex to employers across a wider radius.

This was new: a planned American industrial community constructed with community support. Government leaders anticipated a boom in job creation. Space was absorbed; developers added more. Today the park holds approximately 1,300 companies.  Here, 55,000 people earn their livings.

The world has since caught up, and then some. Thousands of industrial parks now exist coast to coast, typically offering builders and owners more flexible terms, less onerous taxes and – bottom line – the opportunity to operate more profitably. In contrast, local governments have imposed parking restrictions, building setbacks and coverage restrictions ranking among the most stringent in the U.S.

To make things worse, basic services like sewage is lacking. Add to the picture civic resistance to nearly every economic development opportunity, and it’s hard to feel optimistic.

I did however feel a surge of optimism earlier this month, when Smithtown supervisor Patrick Vecchio addressed the Hauppauge Industrial Association. Vecchio, whose turf includes two-thirds of the park, promised to pull back town restrictions.

"The laws will be changed in 2013," Vecchio declared. "You will be able to go up. You will be able to go wide."

Happy new year! I hope Vecchio’s announcement reflects a genuine change in government attitudes and rules. I hope Islip town hall, whose jurisdiction includes one-third of the park’s acreage, is listening. It’s time for officials from Montauk to the city line to recognize Long Island businesses as the generators of economic growth we are, and support our efforts to create prosperity. Business owners are not captive to any town or county. To keep people living and working on Long Island, our elected officials must be more reasonable and more cooperative. Long Island needs a new round of groundbreaking ideas; innovation cannot be a historical relic. Town halls, are you listening?

David Pennetta is president of CIBS, the Commercial Industrial Brokers Society of Long Island.