Judge rules for Patchogue in housing plan

A state Supreme Court justice has ruled in favor of Patchogue in a lawsuit designed to block a 291-unit housing development from rising in the village's downtown.

Officials from the project's developer, Tritec of East Setauket, said Judge Paul Baisley's ruling clears the way for the firm to break ground on Patchogue New Village. But the residents and merchants who filed the lawsuit last year promised to appeal the ruling.

The project includes the housing, along with 17,000 square feet of office space and 45,000 square feet of retail space, to be built on the site of the former Swezey's department store in an area known as Four Corners. Patchogue's trustee board approved the proposal by a 4-to-3 vote a year ago, and the decision has divided the village.

The residents who filed the lawsuit charged that the project was too dense, would overburden downtown parking, and would saturate the local housing market with rentals.

But Baisley wrote in a decision released Thursday that the petitioners "have come forward with no evidence to substantiate their bare allegations of unconstitutionality."

Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri, who supports the Tritec project, said the decision "lets us move forward" with the development. Village attorney Brian Egan agreed.

"It's gratifying that the court saw the actions with the Four Corners developer were legal from the beginning," Egan said.

Patrick Kevin Brosnahan, an attorney for the residents' group, said he would appeal to the state Appellate Division. He said his clients do not oppose the redevelopment of Four Corners; they feel this project is wrongheaded.

"This is not about whether or not there should be development in this area," Brosnahan said.

Jim Coughlan, principal with Tritec, said construction of Patchogue New Village will take two years.