Scott’s Pointe expected to create substantially fewer jobs than expected: revised IDA application

Scott’s Pointe in Calverton is expected to generate 80% fewer full-time jobs, and 55% fewer part-time jobs, than the amusement park’s owner originally stated, according to a newly filed revised application to the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency.  

The owner of Scott’s Pointe, Island Water Park Corp., estimated in its 2021 application for financial assistance to the Riverhead IDA that the project would create 240 full-time jobs and 420 part-time jobs by its second operating year. The numbers were in the application used by the IDA board when it granted the project tax exemptions in 2021.

But a revised application, completed by the business two weeks ago, projects a significantly lower number — 46 full-time jobs and 189 part-time jobs, in its second year. The company currently has 26 full-time employees and 161 part-time employees — an equivalent of 75 full-time equivalent jobs, it said in its application. 

An attorney representing Island Water Park, Alison LaPointe of the Certilman Balin law firm of Hauppauge, said the company “fully expects to exceed those numbers, but wanted to make sure that they were putting a reasonably conservative number before this body,” she said. “Again, they have goals to certainly exceed them, but that’s where they are at the moment, and we submitted those again, revised as of this afternoon. The applicant is very confident in those numbers.“

The previous application states that 95% of full-time and part-time employees at the facility would be from Nassau and Suffolk counties — Riverhead’s labor market area. The revised application states that only half of the company’s full-time employees are expected to reside in the labor market area. 

LaPointe did not return a call seeking comment before this article was published.

The Riverhead Industrial Development Agency board last night voted to begin the review of the revised application, which the IDA required after the company constructed a go-kart track, pickleball courts and a catering hall without permits or approvals from the town, IDA or state Department of Environmental Conservation. Island Water Park Corp also failed to create the number of jobs promised under its original agreement with the IDA, and made belated payments to the IDA.

Those infractions violated the company’s lease and project agreement with the IDA, giving the IDA board the ability to cancel its financial assistance to the company and “recapture” any tax benefits — including mortgage recording and sales tax exemptions — already used by the company. Island Water Park President Eric Scott was required to attend a compliance hearing on Aug. 5 to answer for the IDA for the infractions.

The IDA board gave no indication during the hearing that it would claw back the tax benefits for violating the agreement and seemed satisfied with representations from Island Water Park representatives that it would do better in the future to comply with the terms of its agreement. The agency required the company to submit a revised application — since the project had changed since the agency granted the benefits.

The new application states that the company has increased its capital investment in the project by $13 million — making a total cost of the project $38 million. IDA Executive Director Tracy Stark-James said she will provide the board with a new cost-benefit analysis to make its decision on whether the company’s new application on whether the benefits should “continue, whether you want to change it, [or] whether you want to deny them and pull the entire project…”

In addition to the go-kart track, the company also built pickleball courts and space for a catering hall without approvals. Island Water Park Corp also did not construct several attractions presented to the IDA in 2021, including a spa and fitness center; indoor skydiving; cable park system for wakeboarding; 2,000-foot-long zip line for flyboarding; and bumper boats. The revised IDA application addresses these changes and others.

“Other IWP activities that are in the works include hosting regional and national competitions for IWP activities,” the application states. “IWP will offer general admission seating and a private balcony that will be fully catered to view the live competition. IWP also plans to promote corporate team building events and provide multiple private meeting spaces.”

The company anticipates site plan approval for the go-kart track, pickleball courts and catering space from Riverhead Town by mid-March or April, LaPointe told the IDA board. Island Water Park yesterday reached a settlement in the lawsuit brought by Riverhead Town in Suffolk County Supreme Court after the unlawful building was discovered last year. The settlement requires the company to pay the town $50,000 as a civil penalty, and gives the company a clear path to the go-kart track, pickleball courts and catering hall approved and legalized by the town. 

The application also says Island Water Park is expecting approval from the DEC — which has issued a notice of violation and tickets to the owner for failing to conform to its mined-land permit conditions — by June 2025, according to the application. In its application, Island Water Park says the DEC wants the company to finish its reclamation of the man-made pond, which requires the company to “vegetate the slopes to their satisfaction for the purpose of stability so that the footprint does not grow larger.” 

“We are very close to having enough vegetation today, but we do need more. Last month, we began a rigorous hydroseeding and watering regimen,” the application says. “Early sprouts of ryegrass have taken hold and are holding the other seed in place. The DEC must reinspect in six months to make sure we have the necessary coverage. Once we pass that inspection, the DEC will give us reclaimed status. This will conclude their regular involvement with us. Estimated completion is six months. Also, the DEC will be listed during the coordinated review of our site plan.”

In an email Tuesday, a DEC spokesperson did not provide answers to questions about the matter or address the statement about the DEC in Island Water Park’s application. “DEC staff continue to monitor conditions at the site and the matter remains open and pending,” the spokesperson wrote.

Three businesses are operating at the Scott’s Pointe site: Island Water Park Operations LLC, which operates the park; Lakeview Grill Corp, which operates the park’s restaurant; and Lakeview Security & Investigations Inc, which provides security to the park, according to the application. 

LaPointe said the business entities operate in “a symbiotic manner,” and there is no lease agreement between them. Stark-James said she has discussed the need for leases with the company’s counsel and deemed leases “not totally necessary.”

“The entity is considering leases. What we do when they’re not tenants, per se, is they’re added to the application as an operator within the application,” Stark-James said. “But they will need a certificate of insurance on each entity — which they’ve provided —will need the job numbers and payroll for those entities which just like a tenant would, but they wouldn’t report separately. They’ll report as a whole.”

Stark-James said Island Water Park is not asking for a new financial assistance from the agency. The application states Island Water Park seeks an “enhanced” benefit package, one that would provide assistance in the form of property and other tax exemptions for a 20-year period, instead of the standard 10 years. The company’s 2021 application to the Riverhead IDA sought the “enhanced” benefit package, but the agency at that time approved a 10-year standard benefit.

“The application is not for additional benefits. It is to request to change the scope of the project that was previously reviewed,” Stark-James wrote in an email Tuesday seeking clarification on the issue. Other changes from the original application are reflected in the revised application. Asked why the term of the assistance wasn’t changed to reflect the standard benefit, Stark-James explained, “We do not have an application specifically crafted for ‘amending applications.’ The applicants answer the best they can and upon further review, for which it was accepted last night by resolution, it will likely be corrected or an asterisk with explanation.”