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A year ago, the Town of Brookhaven applied for NYS Economic Development Zone status for 1.8 sq miles of North Bellport, a blighted community riddled with drugs, prostitution and decay. EDZ designation was granted in June and by early September an administrative board and three subcommittees were in place. No one involved has unrealistic expectations of an overnight turnaround after 20 years of neglect, but confidence is high. Just as it did for LI's first EDZ and surrounding community in Central Islip, zone status can mean complete revitalization via government grants, low-interest construction loans, tax breaks and other incentives designed to entice businesses--and jobs--to the area. Already, North Bellport has had 20 inquiries from interested companies, six of which are in serious negotiation.
According to Brookhaven Town Councilman Felix Grucci, planners hope the EDZ designation will expedite implementation of North Bellport's master plan, created in the late 1980s, to revitalize the community. In fact, the two separate projects overlap. Helen Martin, head of the Bellport-Hagerman-East Patchogue Alliance, a local non-profit housing agency, and member of the human resource subcommittee, says the master plan involves, among other things, buying up and rehabilitating abandoned housing and renting it to low and moderate-income households.
Operation Firestorm, an in-progress campaign to demolish burned out, unsafe properties, tow away abandoned cars and step up police presence "grew out of a desire to implement the master plan and augment the success of the EDZ," Grucci explains. Although infrastructure has not been attacked in full measure as yet, Brookhaven Commissioner of Housing and Community Development Robert Reutzel says $.5-M has been spent in the last two years on road resurfacing. Funding for these projects comes largely from $400,000 in federal and state block grants.
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