Location Calverton, New York 14/32 10,000 3,048 Asphalt/Concrete Elevation 23 m | Elevation AMSL 75 ft / 23 m 10,000 3,048 Address Calverton, NY 11933, USA Owner Riverhead | |
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Airport type Public-owned, Private-use | ||
Calverton executive airpark 631
Calverton Executive Airpark (IATA: CTO, FAA LID: 3C8, formerly CTO) is a public-owned private-use airport located three miles (5 km) west of the central business district of the Calverton hamlet, in the Town of Riverhead, Suffolk County, New York, United States. It is owned by the Town of Riverhead.
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It was formerly the Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant, Calverton which was owned by the United States Navy and used to assemble, test, refit and retrofit jets built by the Grumman Corporation on Long Island.
The airport covers an area of 2,921 acres (1,182 ha) which contains two asphalt and concrete runways: 14/32 measuring 10,000 by 200 feet (3,048 m × 61 m) and 5/23 measuring 7,000 by 200 feet (2,134 m × 61 m).
The airport is lightly used, with most planes using the nearby Francis S. Gabreski Airport. Its most visible commercial air tenant is Skydive Long Island which since 2000 had been using the airport for its skydiving operations.
In January 2008, the Riverhead Town Board with newly elected officers signed a deal to close and sell the airport for $155 million to Riverhead Resorts.
History
In 1996, the wreckage of TWA Flight 800, which had exploded, disintegrated and crashed about 20 miles (32 km) south of the airport, was reconstructed in a hangar.
In September 1998, the bulk of the developed land, 2,640 acres (1,070 ha), at the airport was donated to Riverhead. Another 2,935 acres (1,188 ha) was donated to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation for wildlife management.
In the 1998 transactions, East End Aircraft Long Island Corporation was given 10 acres (40,000 m2) on Highway 25 which it is developing into the Grumman Memorial Park and Aerospace Museum.
As of January 2006, the Navy still owns 358 acres (mostly areas requiring environment cleanup) at the site.
As of January 2013, one of the Calverton airport's two runways is being used to store thousands of flood-damaged vehicles from Hurricane Sandy.
Future
Through 2007, debates raged whether to turn the space into a mega complex around a NASCAR track called EPCAL Centre or a giant ski resort based construction of an artificial 350-foot (110 m) high indoor ski mountain.
In January 2008, the Riverhead Town Board with newly elected officers signed a deal to sell the airport for $155 million to Riverhead Resorts to build a multi-facted resort.
It will take up to three years to get the necessary environmental permits and the original proposed opening date of the project is 2012.
A portion of the facility, including the industrial core, is also being developed as an industrial/office park.
On February 11, 2010 it was announced that the dormant railway track into the site would be reactivated for freight service. According to Railway Age magazine, Riverhead’s town board awarded a $3.49 million contract to Railroad Construction Co., of Paterson, New Jersey, to activate a rail spur off of the Long Island Rail Road's Main Line out to Greenport, for New York & Atlantic Railway freight trains. The project is being paid largely through federal stimulus funding.
Ecology and endangered species
The EPCAL site contains the largest remaining grassland on Long Island. The site provides documented breeding and/or foraging habitat for numerous grassland birds, including at least one New York State endangered species (i.e., short-eared owl) and five New York State Species of Special Concern (i.e., common nighthawk, grasshopper sparrow, vesper sparrow, horned lark, and whip-poor-will). In fact, these grasslands are the most productive breeding grounds for grasshopper sparrow (a NYS Species of Special Concern) in all of New York State. The EPCAL site contains 10 kettle hole ponds which are documented breeding sites for the eastern tiger salamander, a New York State endangered species. The site also contains five additional reptile and amphibian species which are identified as Species of Special Concern in New York State (i.e., marbled salamander, eastern spadefoot, spotted turtle, eastern box turtle, and eastern hognose snake). A total of 24 amphibian and reptile species have been identified on or near the EPCAL property.
As discussions over whether the airport could be developed the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation announced in February 2008 that endangered short-eared owls and northern harriers had been spotted at the airport which would prompt the DEC to make the ultimate decision the environmental impact of the development.