JENNIFER GUSTAVSON PHOTO | Middle Island Civic Association president Tom Talbot points to a 99-acre piece of recently preserved property known as Gene’s Four Season. Local residents questioned why it is included in the preliminary findings of a Suffolk County sewer capacity study.

A new study is underway to evaluate the feasibility of installing sewers along the Middle Country Road corridor in Middle Island.

Consultants for Suffolk County presented preliminary details about the study on Thursday to members of the Middle Island Civic Association. They said the roadway was chosen in order to determine the feasibility of installing new sewers and to evaluate current plants in the area.

During the civic’s monthly meeting at the Longwood Public Library in Middle Island, Boris Rukovets, a project manager from the county Department of Public Works and Mary Anne Taylor, a representative from the engineering consulting firm CDM, said they have been working on the study for the past five months and are seeking feedback from the community about sewers potentially coming into the area.

“We’re looking to see if sewering will provide economic and environmental benefits,” he said. “The cost effectiveness of sewering is one of the conclusions driving this.”

Civic president Tom Talbot said he believed there is a “critical need” for the study because there are a number of new development projects pending, including the Artist Lake commercial project at the former K-Mart property, and the area already has some aging sewage plants.

“What we have here now is the Artist Lake condominium communities, as well as Birchwood at Spring Lake, that are working off of independent sewage treatment plants that may not be working real well,” he said.

While the county is evaluating existing sewers in Middle Island, it is also planning to study the former United Artists Movie Theater property in Coram, where a mixed-use redevelopment project is in the works.

Coram Civic Association president Erma Gluck, who attended Thursday’s meeting, said she believed the property should not be included in the study because a sewer feasibility study has already been completed as part of the planning process.

Ms. Gluck said the study determined that the sewage treatment plant at nearby Brentton Woods Condominiums is capable of handling the new development’s waste water.

“That will be one less sewage treatment plant that would have to be built,” she said.

But most residents at Thursday’s meetings said they are in favor of new sewers to help spur redevelopment in the community.

Civic vice president Gail Lynch-Bailey said a new restaurant hasn’t been built at the former Island Squire property because of sewage problems in the area.

“Restaurants have the biggest water demand and that’s why a lot of downtown areas want sewers,” Dr. Taylor said.

The study is expected to be finalized next year.

For more information, visit suffolksewerstudy.cdmims.com

jennifer@northshoresun.com