A long-grounded East Moriches airport shuttered by noise complaints is on tap to be repurposed for a much quieter use.
Holtsville-based LIMC Enterprises Inc. and SA LI Holdings is seeking site-plan approval from the Town of Brookhaven to redevelop the 29-acre former Spadaro Airport into a cemetery for the Muslim faith. This would be the first Muslim cemetery in Suffolk County, according to Ghulam Sarwar, who is spearheading the $10 million project.
“We have a shortage of cemetery space on Long Island,” Sarwar told LIBN. “There is a population of over 100,000 Muslims in Suffolk County and more than 50,000 in the Town of Brookhaven, but we’ve had to go to New Jersey because the people don’t have any choice.”
Most of the former airport property is zoned residential, which allows its use as a cemetery with the acquisition of a special permit from the town board. Last week, the town’s Board of Zoning Appeals approved the applicant’s request to utilize two hangars on the west end of property for equipment storage.
A house on the site will be renovated for use by a caretaker and another existing building will be renovated to serve as the cemetery office, according to attorney Larry Davis of Patchogue-based Davis & Prager P.C. law firm, which represents the project. This week, Davis will hold a Zoom meeting with local civic groups to provide information about the cemetery plan.
Once a chicken farm, Bart Spadaro purchased the property at 91 Montauk Highway in 1959 and opened Bart’s Auto and Aviation Service, adding a runway so small aircraft could land to get repairs and maintenance. Eventually, Spadaro Airport became a base for recreational and skydiving flights. In the 1990s it was designated as a reliever airport eligible to handle overflow from MacArthur Airport, which prompted Spadaro to expand by purchasing 22 acres of adjacent land, assisted by a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration, according to published reports. That parcel was sold in 2011 to Hauppauge-based Northwind Group, which is developing an over-55 community called the Preserve at East Moriches.
Noise complaints from local residents prompted the town to shut operations at Spadaro in 2016. Sarwar’s LLC entities purchased the Spadaro site last year.
Sarwar thanked elected officials for their assistance with the cemetery project.
“We appreciate that Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine, Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico and Councilman Neil Foley have been making an effort to help us with this important project,” he said.
Sarwar said he hopes to begin construction on the cemetery project shortly after the town board approves its site plan.