Oyster Bay seeks OK for Cantiague Commons

After reacting favorably to more Hicksville senior housing, Oyster Bay leaders reminded everyone they're still not keen on rentals in the hamlet's downtown.

The town board yesterday held a hearing for a zone change allowing 40 co-op town houses at West John Street and Kuhl Avenue. Peter Dejana's Parkside Commons, for residents older than 62, would sit blocks from a much-larger proposed 55-and-older community.

Though Parkside offers affordable homes under the town's Golden Age Housing program, the 390-unit Crossings at Cantiague Commons would be at market-rate. If approved, the latter plan will result in the closure of two asphalt plants that the builders ran for decades despite residents' resistance.

Officials said building Cantiague Commons remained on track despite the recent death of a principal, Carl Lizza Jr.

Zone change approval to allow that project is pending. And though the town raised only minor concerns about Dejana's plan, a final decision on that zone change, from light industrial to multifamily senior, was also reserved.

"Our objective is to approve this plan," Supervisor John Venditto said at the close of the hearing.

Later, when a resident raised the prospect of a hotel at the Hicksville post office site on downtown's fringe, Venditto was just as clear. In May, the local Chamber of Commerce and a regional smart growth advocate unveiled downtown suggestions, including the hotel, more rental housing and art galleries.

"Cool downtowns are not welcome in the Town of Oyster Bay," Venditto said, citing resident disapproval of dense downtown revitalization for Hicksville's Long Island Rail Road area.

Protection of what Venditto called the town's "suburban lifestyle" was raised again in the unrelated public hearing on a zone change to allow expansion of Ellsworth W. Allen Park in South Farmingdale.

The 22-acre expansion, using the adjacent Liberty Industrial plant site, is about ready to proceed after a 14-year process of condemnation and environmental cleanup. A community meeting about the project is slated for fall.

Councilman Tony Macagnone, of Farmingdale, recalled the sentiment when he first ran for office in the late 1990s. "I was told not to waste my time; that it would never happen."