Recently, representatives from Commerce Bank were going up and down Hawkins Avenue trying to get local merchants to change banks and come bank with them. They got an earful from many local shopkeepers. Many told Commerce Bank representatives that their corporate policies of refusing to work with local communities and their insistence on cutting down trees and destroying pristine property instead of redeveloping a previously developed site, means that they will never become customers of Commerce Bank.
Local businesses understand that when large corporations ignore the redevelopment goals and revitalization efforts of communities, that it makes it much harder to sustain a vital downtown business district. One would think that a bank, which depends on the business of local merchants, would be more sensitive to community planning efforts. It may be too late for our community, but maybe, just maybe, by hitting Commerce Bank in the wallet they might change their policies before they inflict themselves on the next community.

The following letter was sent to Newsday in response to "Residents to boycott bank on site of proposed memorial", in the 8/10/2008 edition, by Patrick Whittle.Read more...

In case you missed it, we were able to get Newsday to publish a story about our battle with Commerce Bank on Sunday, August 10th in the LI Life section.Read more...

Ronkonkoma Hub Transit-Oriented Redevelopment Study
Informational Meeting
Phase II Recommendations
Thursday, September 18, 7:00 PM
Brookhaven Town Hall Auditorium
2nd Floor, One Independence Hill, Farmingville

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Shockingly, on March 24, 2008 the Town of Brookhaven Planning Board approved the site plan for a Commerce Bank to be constructed on Portion Road. Despite the Planning Board’s recognition that Commerce Bank’s site plan was “an ill-conceived project for this particular parcel of land,” six of the seven Planning Board members voted to approve the plan.Read more...

Members of the Civic Executive Board met with the Suffolk County Department of Public Works engineers and County Legislator Brian Beedenbender on April 1, 2008 to discuss the status of the Portion Road improvement project.
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Daniel Wagner of Newsday has written a brief article describing the situation with the proposed Commerce Bank on Portion Road in the Long Island Edition of Newsday for Tuesday, February 19th, page A33.
You can also read the article online at http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzwagner0219,0,1838331.story. Scroll down to see the item titled "Vote on bank development."

Thanks to the efforts of members and other organizations, the Suffolk County Legislature voted on Tuesday afternoon to override the County Executive's veto, allowing the County to investigate possibly purchase of the Bavarian Inn property. Both Legislators Kennedy and Beedenbender voted yea to pass the resolution.
The County will now proceed to prepare a report regarding the property, which will include information such as a survey, assessment, appraisal, and an environmental audit. Given the environmentally-sensitive location of the building, having the County gather this information is invaluable to the community.
The property report will take 6 to 8 weeks to prepare and after it is complete a decision on the disposition of the property will be made. The Civic will keep you informed as the situation develops.Read more...

As outlined in the January issue of the Fourth Wave, Commerce Bank is proposing to site a new bank in Lake Ronkonkoma. On the surface, this is not bad news: more choices for consumer banking is always welcome, and there are some areas along Portion Road that are ripe for redevelopment. Old, empty and/or under-utilized parcels would be great possibilities for a new bank in our community. However, Commerce Bank has chosen one of the few remaining green tracts in the area to place their new bank. Read more...

A well-attended community meeting for the ongoing Ronkonkoma Hub Planning and Land Use Study was held on Thursday, January 17th, at Brookhaven Town Hall. Besides community residents, many elected officials and staff members from several government agencies were there to explain the study and discuss it with the community.Read more...

You have probably driven past it countless times without giving it a second thought, and yet during the Portion Road Visioning, in October of 2004, hundreds of you had identified this property as a desirable location for a memorial park. Now it may disappear. Commerce Bank has decided to cut down all of the trees and remove the hill to completely flatten the site, and construct a bank with a multi-lane drive-thru adjacent to the homes on the south side of the property. But you can help prevent this from happening.
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The Lake Ronkonkoma Civic Organization often addresses the Brookhaven Town Board, the Planning Board, and the Zoning Board of Appeals on applications in the Lake Ronkonkoma, Holbrook and Farmingville areas in the Civic’s boundaries. One such application involved a change-of-zone for the CVS parcel at the corner of Portion Road and Holbrook Road in Lake Ronkonkoma. This was a complicated application in that it was not readily apparent what the intent was, but after our initial meeting with the developer, it became clear.Read more...

The Town of Brookhaven has started a 3-year program to update the Town’s Comprehensive Plan, which has been titled Brookhaven 2030. Read more...