Developer pulls Freeport building request

Developer Gary Melius said Wednesday he will redesign a planned Freeport apartment building that has become the hub of village debate after a hostile community meeting about the proposal.

The announcement that Melius has withdrawn the prior plans - read by Freeport Landmarks Preservation Commission chairwoman Pietrina Reda at the start of a Tuesday commission meeting to debate the plans - drew loud cheers from the standing-room-only crowd of about 150 people who packed Village Hall.

The proposed development on the Melius-owned historic site of the former Brooklyn Water Works on Brookside Avenue drew harsh criticism from neighbors.

Nassau Legis. Dave Denenberg (D-Merrick) called the plans "clearly inappropriate" for a site that abuts a Little League park and the Brookside nature preserve.

"We can't allow anything that would be inappropriate for the area," said Denenberg, who suggested the county purchase the site for open space.

Some residents suggested he construct a catering hall, a movie theater or a museum. Melius, who did not attend the hearing, said Wednesday the opposition led him to scratch his initial proposal.

"They didn't like the facade," he said. "We know we're getting opposition. We're trying to make it as easy as I can."

But Melius, who owns Oheka Castle in Cold Spring Hills, said he doesn't believe he needs village board approval. Landmarks Commission officials said they must approve any use of the property.

Melius said he won't propose downsizing. "I'm only asking to do what I can do, like anybody else would," he said. "I don't see anything wrong with that."

Melius and the Water Works site have long been the hub of controversy in Freeport. Melius claimed in an $8.5 million federal lawsuit filed in 2003 that then-Freeport Mayor William Glacken and his brother-in-law, then-village attorney Harrison J. Edwards, plotted with then-Nassau deputy Treasurer Keith Sernick and others between 2000 and 2004 to seize the property through an unlawful tax deed scheme.

Freeport Mayor Andrew Hardwick, who defeated Glacken in 2009, settled the village's share of the still-pending Melius' lawsuit last year for $3.5 million.

The Water Works project has become a political hot potato, with Hardwick's political opponents rallying around opposition to the proposal.

State campaign finance records show Melius and his wife, Pamela, last month gave a combined $4,000 to two Hardwick-backed village board candidates, or 12 percent of all funds they raised. Both candidates lost.