The Brookhaven Town Board has approved zoning changes for a site in Medford that was once proposed to be the home of a new casino. Now, a developer plans to build a massive warehouse on the 30-acre property.
The property alongside a Long Island Expressway south service road is about to be sold by Suffolk Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation. But the buyer’s plans to build a 390,000-square-foot distribution facility has drawn criticism from nearby residents in Medford.
They claimed at a recent town public hearing that the facility would create traffic and noise in their neighborhoods. Those are similar to the complaints made about Jake’s 58 Casino, which now operates out of a hotel in Islandia on the northern service road. They’re asking the developer to at least create a 75-foot buffer of trees between the warehouse and their homes.
Construction can’t begin until the town planning board gives site plan approval. Suffolk OTB said the sale for a "considerable profit” is a revenue generator for the county. The betting agency emerged from a decade in bankruptcy in 2020.
