Developer seeks permits for 40 satellite earth stations in Calverton tied to Starlink 

A developer that built ground satellite antennas in Calverton without proper approvals — part of a bid to boost internet connection on the North Fork — is seeking permits from Riverhead a year after officials ordered a stop to the project.

The developer plans to build 40 "satellite earth station" antennas on the property that communicate to Starlink satellites orbiting in space. Roughly half of them, which resemble domed white orbs, were installed without an initial approval, town officials have said. 

Starlink is SpaceX’s internet network that speak to a constellation of satellites orbiting Earth. The company was founded by billionaire Elon Musk.

Terra Connect, a telecommunications firm based in Parsippany, New Jersey, began construction last year on a field of satellites on industrial land in the Enterprise Park at Calverton. Riverhead Town issued a stop-work order in May 2024 because, officials said, the developer had not secured site plan approvals or building permits.

At the time, the town’s zoning code did not reference the emerging technology that's used as an intermediary between satellites in orbit and local internet networks. Since then, the town has approved new laws that allow satellite stations by special permit. Riverhead set a June 3 hearing on the proposal.

“Unfortunately they did start it without the permits, but they’ve been very cooperative since,” Riverhead Supervisor Tim Hubbard said in an interview. In the application, Terra Connect officials noted that Starlink provides service to more than 1 million customers in the United States, particularly in rural areas.

“The Satellite Earth Station will improve the overall performance and capacity of the Starlink system, including to the local area,” the company said in the application.

Representatives for Terra Connect did not respond to interview requests about the pending application.

New guidelines

A Starlink report from February says the company has more than 6,750 satellites in orbit and millions of customers globally.

Town senior planner Matt Charters said the town’s code was modeled after its guidelines for cellphone towers.

“It’s really about screening, safety,” he said in an interview.  The town concluded the plan will not result in “unacceptable radiation exposure levels,” according to a staff report.

The code also seeks to locate the facilities in appropriate areas. These antennas are within a large industrial complex, fenced in, and can't be seen from residential areas or public streets.

“You don’t want this thing to be hideous and have a visual impact on something, but in this case, you can’t see it anyway,” Charters said.

Though the stations are similar to cellphone towers, the Calverton proposal is one of only two known ground satellite stations for Starlink on Long Island, according to applications filed with the Federal Communications Commission. The other is proposed in Westbury, FCC records show.

Pushback

At a town meeting on May 6, Kevin Shea, a Democrat running for Riverhead town council, urged the town to consider other companies that develop the technology.

“I shouldn't have to remind anyone of the chaos we’ve had over federal, state issues and even internationally by this person,” Shea said, referring to Musk, who has been leading the Department of Government Efficiency, which has ordered layoffs across multiple federal agencies.

Shea said he’s concerned about the “concentration and power influence” Musk has.

Hubbard, a Republican running for reelection in November, said he doesn’t share those concerns.

“I don’t have a problem with it whatsoever,” he said in an interview.

Ambulance company's embrace

Hubbard said one of the town's ambulances uses Starlink services because of outages and gaps in radio communications in town. The program has been successful so far, he said.

“It’s going to provide internet access and radio communication access to areas that normally wouldn’t have it — so I think it’s a good thing,” Hubbard said.

Garrett Lake, president of the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps, said the department now plans to outfit all five ambulances with Starlink technology after the successful pilot. 

"We were having a lot of issues with communications," Lake said in an interview. "Starlink basically created a Wi-Fi connection in the ambulance that is good anywhere, good down by the [Long Island] Sound where there's never any cellular service, and we get calls on the beach."

Terra Connect's case over the permits is pending in town justice court, town attorney Erik Howard said.

“The defendant was given a long adjournment to submit and process the site plan application since remediation is one of the factors that we typically take into consideration in making an offer on a plea disposition,” Howard said in an email Tuesday. He said it’s likely the company will face fines.