As the landowner, Posillico has until the end of 2015 to clean up the site, at an estimated cost of $12 million. If the company were to miss that deadline, it would not be eligible for the brownfield program’s tax credits. He said that he has to start the cleanup as soon as possible, but he will not do so until the town lifts the covenant and gives him and his partner permission to build the 140 apartments.

Town Attorney Joe Ra said that the request must go through an environmental review before the board can set a hearing date. Town spokesman Michael Deery added that no hearing date will be set until the petition to lift the covenant “is ready for hearing, and it is not.”

Ingoglia said this week that he was encouraged by the board’s response. “They told us that the application to lift the covenant was submitted in March and that it could not be expected to be ready for a hearing by early July,” he said. “I asked for priority, to go to the front of the line, because of the devastation brought by Sandy to the business and to the community. Nearly half of the residents in Island Park still get their mail forwarded elsewhere. We need people to patronize our businesses or else they might not be able to stay open. The proposed development would bring upwards of 400 new residents with money to spend to our community. It would be a real shot in the arm.”

Town officials declined to speculate on how long the environmental review and the vetting process for the project might take.