In late April, the Brentwood School District presented a report that discussed the probable impact of the Heartland Town Square on the community. Based on that, members of the schoolboard voted to withdraw their support from the development.
Heartland is a mammoth project that has been proposed for Brentwood, a hamlet near Central Islip. The development would have a significant impact on the entire area, and has been controversial since plans were first announced.
In 2016, the Islip Planning Board recommended that the first phase of the development be approved, though on a much smaller scale than originally requested (though it would still have comprised more than 3,000 residential units). The Suffolk County Planning Commission, in early 2017, recommended that Islip grant a requested zoning change. However, after hearing comments from the public, and facing the schoolboard's refusal to support the project, a decision is still pending.
The schoolboard's concern is that the project would bring so many new students into the district that the facilities would be overcrowded. While the developer estimates a little more than 2,000 students would come from the new housing, the district believes the number would be more than 7,000 students.
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