Glen Cove planning board delays vote on The Villa project

The Glen Cove planning board late Tuesday night delayed a vote on a proposed 176-unit condominium complex after a contentious meeting during which supporters touted potential economic benefits and opponents worried about low-income residents who would be displaced by the project.

Board chairman Thomas Scott said after a three-hour public hearing on the proposal that, before voting on it, the board must first issue an environmental findings statement. A vote could take place at the March 15 planning meeting, he said.

The project would include 160 market-rate units and 16 “affordable” condos for families with annual incomes up to $87,200.

The controversy over the project, called The Villa, which would be built on Glen Cove Avenue just outside downtown, is part of a larger debate in the city over whether to allow more high-density condominium and apartment buildings in and near downtown.

But it also is about how nearly 50 people in apartments now on the site would lose their homes. Michael Banks, 19, said their displacement to make way for upscale condos is “a symbol of the direction we’re taking this town.”

“The poor people — especially the black and Hispanic people in Glen Cove — are being pushed out, neighborhood by neighborhood,” said Banks, who lives elsewhere in the city.

Dan Livingston, owner and president of the developer, Queens-based Livingston Development Corp., said he would provide financial assistance to displaced residents who need it and would work with the city and real estate professionals to find them new housing.

But Banks said tenants would have difficulty finding new affordable housing in pricey Nassau County, even with assistance.

Marsha Silverman and other residents predicted the development would reduce their property values. But resident Glenn Howard said it would increase property values, add tax revenue to the city’s coffers and provide customers for local businesses.

Before the public hearing started, the city and planning board were served with a lawsuit filed by Silverman and Roni Epstein, whose home and yard are on the hillside above The Villa site. They are concerned about marred views, noise and other problems they believe would ruin what Silverman called their “very peaceful and quiet” surroundings.

Their attorney, Amy Marion, said the planning board did not conduct adequate environmental and visual-impact studies and did not follow legally mandated procedures.

Planning board attorney John Chase did not return phone calls for comment.

Livingston, who recently announced he would reduce the height of the building closest to the hillside from four to three floors, said he has “done everything we could to appease people, but there comes a point where no matter what you do, people will be unreasonable.”