Earlier this year, the Village of Patchogue Board of Trustees voted to enter into Phase 2 of their energy-saving projects with Johnson Controls. The second phase includes the railroad parking lot solar array carport, which is currently underway

After the project is completed it will offset about 56 percent of the yearly cost to power the village’s sewage treatment plant, which costs several hundred thousand dollars a year.

Despite the lot being owned by the village, Smith said, it does require some approvals by the Long Island Rail Road. The project is expected to have an early-summer 2025 completion. Construction will be done in stages so as to not disrupt the station functionality.

The project, once completed, will include about five to six solar panel arrays, much larger than the Patchogue Theatre lot carport, and will be located in the center of the lot spanning from the eastern tip by South Ocean Avenue to the west near West Street. 

The project is also expected to include over 16 EV charging stations in the midway point of the parking lot.

Funding for Patchogue Village’s Long Island Rail Road parking lot solar carport was officially secured in the amount of a $3 million grant, after a personal phone call from Gov. Kathy Hochul to mayor of Patchogue Village Paul Pontieri, making the promise back in May.

The funding for the project is intended to help make way for additional sewage treatment plant expansions to support Gov. Hochul’s plans for creating new housing.

The governor, according to Hochul’s Long Island press secretary Gordon Tepper, allocated the $3 million from existing state capital funding sources. The village will receive it as a reimbursement after they move forward with the project.

The total cost of the project is estimated at about $5.2 million with the expectation of adding additional money, according to Pontieri, for additional park upgrades, such as the ballfields on Rider Avenue.

The remaining balance will be bonded at no cost to the taxpayer, utilizing sewage treatment plant income. The board approved to go out for a bond in the amount of $4 million during the last board meeting.