The Smithtown News ~ April 13, 2017 ~ Page 1

VOLUME 65, NO. 47 ApriL 13, 2017 75 CENTSTHE COMMUNITY’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER

-Section inside

Smithtownhit hard bywindstorm

St. Jamesready for2017 run

-Photo story, page 14

SOAPY SMITH: Foundry conservationist Chip Schwartz cleans the statue of Smithtown founder Richard Smith at the Damianos Colonial Building at 180 Middle Country Road Tuesday, April 11. See story, page 3.

-David Ambro photo

Solar flare up over Steck Philbin saleBy DAVID AMBRO

Despite the solar energy farm being rejected, the Suffolk County Landbank Corporation and the Suffolk County Legislature have approved the

sale of the controversial Steck Philbin landfill on Old Northport Road in Kings Park to Toby Carlson of Powercrush, Inc. and Michael Rosato of Vision Associates, LLC, both of Kings Park.

When the sale of the land to Mr. Carlson and Mr. Rosato was originally proposed a year ago, it was for a “solar farm.” Subsequently though, PSE&G Long Island rejected a power purchase agreement for the site. As a result, on December 12, 2016 the Landbank Corporation agreed to sell the land “for an end use to be determined.”

The tax lien on the land is $1.4 million, and the sale is for $500,000 to be paid over 20 years, although those terms are all still under negotiation pending the closing of sale, which has not yet taken place.

The Suffolk County Legislature had approved the sale June 1, 2016 for the solar farm. The legislature subsequently voted March 28, 2017 to amend its resolution and to sell the site to Mr. Carlson and Mr. Rosato for “an end use to be determined.”

During an interview in The Smithtown News office Monday, April 10, Kings Park Civic Association President Sean Lehmann and Vice President Linda Henninger expressed concern about the process used by the Landbank Corporation, which they don’t think has been fair. Mr. Lehmann said residents who live adjacent to the site are very concerned about what has turned into an open-ended outcome.

Mr. Lehmann and Ms. Henninger said leading up to (Continued on page 11)

The Smithtown News ~ April 13, 2017 ~ Page 3

Richard Smithstatue is stellarFoundry conservationist back in Smithtown

COMING CLEAN: Polich Tal-lix foundry conservationist Chip Schwartz uses a mild solvent (photos at right) to remove the wax from the statue of Smithtown founder Richard Smith in front of 180 Middle Country Road in downtown Smithtown. After re-moving the wax and touching up the bronze patina, Mr. Schwartz then uses a torch (top and bot-tom left) to reapply a protective coating of wax to the statue. The conservation work is part of an annual maintenance contract in-tended to prevent the statue from deteriorating.

By DAVID AMBRO

Richard “Bull” Smith would be proud.To help celebrate the 350th anniversary of the Town of

Smithtown in 2015, X. Cristofer Damianos, the principal of Damianos Realty Group, LLC, of Smithtown, commissioned a statue of the founding father. So that it could be enjoyed by all, Mr. Damianos placed the bronze statue on a pedestal in front of his flagship Colonial Building at 180 Middle Country Road, which is at the southeast corner of Main Street and Route 111 in the heart of downtown Smithtown.

To make sure that this likeness of Richard Smith remains as manicured, neat and clean as his signature Smithtown property, Mr. Damianos entered into long-term contract with the foundry to perform annual maintenance of the sculpture.

Chip Schwartz, of Polich Tallix, a fine art foundry in Rock Tavern, New York which cast the Smith statue after it was

-David Ambro photos(Continued on page 21)

The Smithtown News ~ April 13, 2017 ~ Page 21

Izzo II leaf bag case a hefty burdenToday’s taxpayers face expense of improper disposal from 1970s and 1980s

(Continued from page 2)property. The Town’s belated effort to escape culpability for its blatant trespass and damage to the [Izzo’s] property by asserting the statute of limitations defense is without merit.”

Legal papers filed by Rivkin Radler on behalf of the Izzos points out that on three separate occasions the court has rejected the statute of limitations defense.

The town is represented in the appeal by attorney John Denby of the Smithtown law firm of Devitt Spellman and Barrett, LLP. In legal

papers filed with the Appellate Division November 25, 2015, Mr. Denby argues that the Izzos are time-barred from filing the lawsuit and that the Izzos did not sustain any damages to their property.

According to Mr. Denby, Neil Izzo was aware of the dumping of leaves on his property in 1992 when his cousins, who owned the adjacent property, commenced the lawsuit against the Town. “At bar, any purported action based upon a continuing trespass is barred by the passage of ten years which is sufficient to create

an easement by prescription,” writes Mr. Denby in his appellate brief.

As for damages , Mr. Denby submitted a sworn tax return from 1992 in which the Izzos valued the property at $200,000 and an appraisal from 2002 in which the property is appraised at $432,000 with the leaf bags on the site. “Plaintiffs cannot demonstrate that they are entitled to any damages as a result of the alleged trespass,” says the Denby brief.

The Izzo property is T-shaped, with frontage on Old Northport

Road that opens up behind the Town Highway yard. An aerial photograph of the site from 1976 reveals that the Town crossed over the line from the Town Highway yard onto the Izzo property. When the Town conducted its leaf bag disposal operation, the property was not staked and their were no fences.

During his trial testimony, Mr. Dowling alleged that the pile of leaf bags was delivered to the site by the Town of Huntington during the administration of the late John Walsh, a longtime Huntington highway superintendent

during the 1960s and 1970s. Two former Huntington town officials testified that the Town of Huntington highway department neither distributed nor collected leaf bags during the period of the 1970s specified in the Izzo litigation. Former Huntington Deputy Highway Superintendent Dominick Feeney and former Huntington Department of Environmental Control Director Richard I gna tow t es t i f i ed tha t Huntington vacuumed up the leaves at curbside and disposed of the unbagged leaves in compactors.

Foundry taking care of Smithtown founder(Continued from page 3)

sculpted at the renowned Studio EIS in Brooklyn, t rave led to Smi thtown Tuesday, April 11 to undertake the annual maintenance, a two day process. It was his second trip to Smithtown to care for Richard Smith.

During an interview at the statue Tuesday, Mr. Schwartz explained how the statue was crafted; how the patina is protected with a coat of wax; and the process he uses to strip off the old wax using solvents, touch up any wear and tear to the patina with a torch, and then re-waxes the statue to protect the patina for another year out in the elements.

“It’s in great shape,” Mr. Schwartz said of the Smith statue.

Mr. Damianos said that many times statues are left to oxidize and turn green, but that in many case that results in the patina deteriorating, which he did not want to happen to the Smith statue, so he entered into an annual maintenance contract.

“We spent a lot of time, effort and dollars and I want it to look great continuously,” Mr. Damianos said. “It is in front of one of our buildings and I don’t ever want anything in front of our buildings that is deteriorating. How we maintain our buildings is how we are going to maintain our statue.”

“This is our gift to Smithtown and we want our gift to Smithtown to look good,” Mr. Damianos said.

Mr. Schwartz, who is in charge of conservation and restoration at Polich Tallix, said his company has forged everything from the Ocsar trophies given out at the Academy Awards, which are

13 inches, to the largest statues in the biggest cities, and everything in between. He said the statue of Mr. Smith is about the middle of the scale, just a little larger than life-size.

Mr. Schwartz said that maintenance of a statue is very important, and that some owners don’t do any upkeep. He said that it was forward thinking of Mr. Damianos to enter into an annual maintenance contract to preserve the quality of the bronze.

“This guy looks great because right from the beginning they had us coming here,” Mr. Schwartz said as he unpacked his gear Tuesday. “If you keep it in this condition, it is going to last a very long time, but once you let it go, it can go very quickly.”

When the bronze is cast at the foundry, Mr. Schwartz said a chemical reaction is used to achieve the desired color—in the case of Richard Smith, a rich dark brown. “That is what we are trying to preserve,” he said. “We use a protective wax layer to get the water to run off it just like your car. As long as we keep the wax layer between the metal and the outside elements, is will stay in good shape.”

Mr. Damianos said that he visited the foundry in Rock Tavern when the statue was being cast to pick the color of the patina. He said it is the same color as a statue the foundry recently cast of Thomas Jefferson.

“It is a color that you find in most historical statues,” Mr. Damianos said. “I wanted to make it look as historical as possible.”

Although unfamiliar with the community, Mr. Schwartz said there appears to be an appreciation for the Richard

Smith statue. “Last year when I was here a lot of people stopped by to talk to me while I was working,” he said. “You can tell the community really likes it, which is nice.”

As he admired Richard Smith, Mr. Schwartz said it is a fine statue, and he complimented Studio EIS, one of the premiere portrait statue sculptors in the world.

He said EIS has created some very historical pieces, including the Founding Fathers in Phi ladelphia and many of the statues in Washington D.C.

Chip Schwartz tending to the statue of Richard Smith Wednesday, April 12.