Developer submits environmental report on proposed luxury apartment project in Port Washington

Developers of a proposed 176-unit luxury apartment building in Port Washington have submitted a draft environmental impact statement to the Town of North Hempstead, seeking to push forward a project that has been in the works for several years.

The estimated $130 million project, at 145 West Shore Rd., calls for a seven-story multifamily dwelling, a public marina and a 700-foot-long promenade, among other features. Officials with the Nashville, Tennessee-based developer Southern Land Company submitted the study — prepared by VHB Engineering, Surveying, Landscape Architecture & Geology PC in Hauppauge — earlier this month, factoring the traffic, environmental and school impacts of the project.

Town spokesperson Gordon Tepper said the town “received the report and it is slated to be reviewed by the planning department.”

Among the findings, the report stated that the proposed development will bring in about 378 residents with 14 school-age-children. Ten major intersections in the area were analyzed and it was determined that the project would, when split by direction, result in one additional vehicle every two minutes traveling on West Shore Road, with no significant negative impacts to traffic conditions.

“We have addressed every concern people have,” said Dustin Downey, chief investment officer at Southern Land. “Some of the concerns are real. The real engineering [from the report] will show that traffic impact is negligible, and we’re offsetting the school impact by paying $26,000 per student, for every student in the building.”

Southern Land officials said they will provide $10 million to $14 million toward the removal of environmentally hazardous debris from the water and shoreline; removal of sunken vessels and other dilapidated metal buildings; and remediation of the soil.

“We really want to be good stewards to the community, and we want to integrate in to this community,” said Joseph Rossi, the company’s Northeast director of acquisitions.

He estimates that about 400 jobs will be created during the construction phase and about 10 permanent jobs afterward. Over the course of 20 years, developers predict tax revenues of more than $28 million once construction is complete.

The complex will include one-, two- and three-bedroom units on five residential floors, with two parking levels underneath, according to Southern Land. The estimated monthly rents will range from $3,500 for a one-bedroom apartment to $11,000 for a penthouse. Ten percent of the units will be priced as workforce housing, developers said.

There is opposition to the project. An online petition against the development has garnered more than 3,500 signatures.

“The development will really change the whole character of this town,” said Steven Catrone, president of the Port Washington Park Civic Association. “We’re going to be fighting this at many levels.”

Hilary Himpler, of the Beacon Hill Residents Association, said her opposition is based on the potential variances, overpopulation, traffic and the risk of flooding.

Edda Ramsdell, a longtime Port Washington resident, said she opposes any zoning variance and added that the development could bring more traffic to the area, including to already busy Beacon Hill Road.

“We do not want variances,” Ramsdell said. “We do not want zoning changes and we’re not going away.”

Ramsdell noted the historic meaning of the area, home to now-abandoned barges that once fed sand through Hempstead Harbor to build New York City skyscrapers.

“This is not a blight,” she said. “The sand mining is part of our heritage. The sand from here built New York City.”