New bill would permanently protect Setauket-Port Jefferson Station Greenway

The Setauket-Port Jefferson Station Greenway moved one step closer to permanent protection this week, with lawmakers approving a bill that would place a perpetual conservation easement over the 3.4-mile corridor. If Gov. Kathy Hochul signs it, the trail would be shielded from residential, commercial, industrial or roadway development that conflicts with open-space preservation.

The measure, A10341 in the Assembly and S10161 in the Senate, passed both houses with bipartisan support. The Senate approved the companion bill on June 3, and the legislation’s stated purpose is to permanently protect the Greenway Trail through a conservation easement. Assemblywoman Rebecca Kassay sponsored the Assembly bill, while Sens. Monica Martinez and Anthony Palumbo sponsored the Senate version.

For Suffolk residents, the significance is practical as much as symbolic. The Assembly says the corridor was originally acquired in the late 1950s for a proposed Route 25A bypass, then transformed into a paved trail in the early 2000s with more than $7 million in public investment. Today it functions as a nonvehicular link between neighborhoods, schools, shopping areas, houses of worship and Long Island Rail Road stations in Setauket and Port Jefferson Station.

Kassay has framed the bill as a way to settle a long-running land-use conflict without closing off future infrastructure planning. County Executive Ed Romaine said he appreciated her revised approach, which removed bridge and bypass language that had raised concerns last year. That change helped turn the Greenway into a preservation bill rather than a broader transportation fight, while still leaving room for continued discussion about transit and rail-yard needs in the area.

The Greenway debate has been tied to the Lawrence Aviation site, one of the most sensitive redevelopment questions in Port Jefferson Station. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation describes the property as a 126-acre project area with an approximately 36-acre industrial portion where titanium sheet metal was produced from 1959 to 2003, alongside a history of contamination involving TCE, PCE, metals and other wastes.

That pressure has kept the corridor at the center of regional planning. In June 2024, Suffolk County Planning Commissioner Sarah Lansdale said the redevelopment concept then under discussion split the site into three pieces, including a 5-megawatt solar array, space for an MTA rail yard and protected open space. The broader question, how to modernize the Port Jefferson Branch without sacrificing open land or reviving a Route 25A bypass, is exactly why the Greenway bill mattered in Albany.

Kassay also underscored the local support behind the push when she held a March 30 community press conference at the Port Jefferson Station trailhead that drew more than 70 residents, local officials and community stakeholders. Volunteers and groups including Friends of the Greenway and Three Village Community Trust have helped maintain the trail, giving the preservation effort an established grassroots base. The bill now sits on Hochul’s desk, and the final decision will determine whether the Greenway becomes permanently protected land or remains exposed to future redevelopment pressure.