GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (AP) – The 35-story indoor ski mountain would soar over bucolic pine barrens and farms at the twin forks of Long Island.

Developers envision a gleaming $2 billion resort complex, rising out of a Cold War airfield where the Navy once tested fighter jets for “Top Gun” pilots.

But environmentalists are already lining up to fight the ambitious project, which also would feature an indoor water park, a convention center and hotel, a winery, equestrian trails, campgrounds, an artificial lake, and a spa surrounded by botanical gardens.

“Mega-development … could turn rural Calverton into modern-day Orlando,” shouted a recent press release from the Long Island Pine Barrens Society.

It’s been a decade since the Navy gave the town of Riverhead – some 75 miles east of New York City – about 6,000 acres of property once used by defense contractor Northrup-Grumman to test F-14s and other aircraft.

Half of the land has already been set aside as a preserve; the other half is designated for development.

Now a group of investors including Scottish home builders, Baldragon Homes Ltd, and real estate developers Bayrock Group LLC, have signed a $163 million deal with the town to transform 750 acres into what they call Riverhead Resorts.

Mitch Pally, an attorney for the proposed resort, tries to emphasize the diverse features of the project, but concedes most of the questions he gets are about the ski dome.

“Americans are very parochial,” he explained. “If we don’t have one in this country, we assume they don’t exist. There are over 50 of them operating in the world today.”

Indeed, from Australia to Scotland to Dubai, ski enthusiasts have been schussing down indoor ski resorts for years.

In the United States, an indoor ski slope is due to open later this year in the New Jersey Meadowlands, and other projects are in various forms of development outside Atlanta and in Las Vegas and elsewhere.

“This has to be a 365-day resort or we’re not making money,” Pally said. “We have to provide basically the same guest experience in January that we do in July.”

Marketing surveys, he said, have found that 40 million people live within a six-hour drive of the site.

, and he has designs on the international traveler, as well.

“There are 50 million visitors who go to New York City every year,” Pally said, applauding Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s tourism push. “As I always say, the mayor’s getting them from Germany to New York. All I got to do is get them from New York to Riverhead.”

But before Pally starts loading tourists onto the Long Island Railroad for the hour-plus trip from Manhattan, he must get at least 18 regulatory approvals from various government agencies, many of which focus on environmental concerns.

That’s where opponents are gathering for a brawl.

The property is considered part of the Pine Barrens of Long Island, 100,000 acres of relatively undeveloped land that sits atop an aquifer system that is the sole natural source of drinking water for the island’s nearly 3 million residents. Because of its critical ecological role, state and local laws limit the type and scope of development in the region.

Since April, all building has been on hold after the state Department of Environmental Conservation confirmed the presence of rare species such as the short-eared owl and the eastern tiger salamander.

Both are protected under state conservation law and a survey of the property is under way to determine the extent of the animals’ presence. Once that review is completed, it may be necessary for additional permits to be issued before the project can proceed, said DEC spokeswoman Maureen Wren. She could not estimate how long the process might take.

Rex Farr, an organic farmer and president of the Calverton Civic Association, said his organization has yet to take a position.

“We’re just listening at this point,” he said, although he noted the Riverhead Resorts developers “came in with the most professional presentation we have seen. We haven’t said no to the project. We are at the table.”

Riverhead Town Supervisor Phil Cardinale said the property was rezoned for development a decade ago and was confident that the resort would proceed.

Developers estimate the project will yield $50 million in property tax payments annually and create 3,000 to 4,000 permanent full-time jobs as well as another 12,000 in the region.

Jennifer Skillbred, part of a group called the Coalition for Open Space at Epcal, which represents 24 groups opposed to the project, disagrees with Cardinale’s assessment.

“A comprehensive environmental review needs to be done on the entire parcel,” she said. “Our view is that last study was done 10 years ago and is outdated. It doesn’t include the endangered birds.”

Although the developers are not expected to formally close on the property until 2010, when construction would start, Cardinale said Riverhead Resorts has already made a $2 million unrefundable payment and a second is due on July 15.

Barring delays, developers hope to open in early 2013, but Pally said it could take 10 years for the entire project to be completed.

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On the Net:

Town of Riverhead: www.riverheadli.com

Riverhead Resorts: www.riverheadresorts.com

Long Island Pine Barrens Society: www.pinebarrens.org

AP-ES-05-28-08 1514EDT