Developer seeks variances to build a three-story rental apartment complex in Commack
Trailer City, along Jericho Turnpike in Commack, is the site of a proposed apartment project opposed by some residents. Credit: Newsday / Steve Pfost
A developer is seeking variances from Smithtown to build a 98-unit sister building for its Commack rental apartment complex, but neighbors said the project would bring noise and light pollution into their backyards.
About a dozen homes on Astor Court lie south of the TDG Realty's 55-and-older Fieldstone complex and the five-acre Jericho Turnpike Trailer City, a trailer and parts store site, where the developer proposes a new three-story, 37-foot-high building. Woodbury-based TDG Realty Acquisition's sites are separated from the homes by a 30-foot woodland buffer and a planted buffer roughly the same width, but neighbors at an Oct. 25 Zoning Board of Appeals hearing said storms had thinned the trees.
At that hearing, Ben Bonaventura likened the existing Fieldstone building to “Times Square at night” because of lights he said were visible through the trees; later, he told Newsday he feared clearing the new site for building would expose his backyard to Jericho Turnpike and that the new building’s parapet would loom over the treeline. His neighbor, Craig Krsanac, said the plantings already in place were so small he expected to be “dead and buried” before they grow into an effective buffer.
TDG representatives have said in filings to the town there would not be a “direct line of sight” between their proposed building and any of the nearby homes, all of which are at least 100 feet away. They are asking for height and setback variances, as well as a variance that would allow them to increase gross floor area from 25% to 41% of the lot. They argued that those variances would allow them to preserve open space on the site and that similar requests granted for the first Fieldstone building had led to no “negative impact on the surrounding neighborhood.”
TDG partner Paul Posillico told Newsday the company planted a mix of close to 90 trees to shield their first building and would do the same for the second. “You can’t plant mature trees,” he said, but the trees would be “significantly sized” and would include evergreens to screen during the winter.
Any construction is likely five to six months away, town planner Peter Hans told Newsday. The application is on hold while the town’s Department of Environment and Waterways officials determine whether the project will require an environmental impact statement. Site plan review will follow.
Town planners will review the proposal and conditions at the existing project, he said. “If there’s areas that need increased vegetation, we’re certainly going to explore that,” and may even ask TDG to put new plantings in the woodland.
Posillico said the market for 55-and-older housing is booming. TDG’s first project opened in June 2020 and leased up within months, he said. Rents at the new project, which will offer slightly larger apartments, would be about $3,300 for two bedrooms and $2,500 for one bedrooms.
Bonaventura, who moved in 31 years ago, said he'd resigned himself to another condo building and just wanted TDG to plant a thick buffer of trees to preserve the natural feel of his backyard. “I want them to honor their word," he said.
