Residents turn out to oppose proposed apartments in Sayville

Hundreds of residents turned out for a meeting late Thursday to voice their opposition to a Plainview developer’s proposed 1,365-unit luxury apartment community on the site of the former Island Hills Golf Club in Sayville.

Many residents of Sayville, Bohemia and surrounding communities have said an apartment complex on that scale would fundamentally alter the nature of the residential community.

Opponents have raised several concerns about the proposal by Rechler Equity Partners, including the visual impact of three- and four-story buildings, traffic congestion and having renters in the community.

“People who are tenants don’t have a vested interest in the community,” said one speaker Thursday night who declined to give her name. “They take from the community and they don’t give back.”

Residents asked Rechler officials Thursday night if they would be willing to consider alternatives to apartments on the property, with many calling for single-family homes, and some saying they would accept town houses instead of apartments.

“We’re really committed to . . . creating high end quality housing for the workforce and baby boomers,” said Gregg Rechler, a managing partner in the firm. “I don’t have an alternative. We are really committed to this.”

At one point in the meeting at the Sycamore Elementary School in Bohemia, Gregg Rechler asked the audience whether they had made up their mind about the project, and almost everyone raised their hand. The meeting was sponsored by the Bohemia Civic Association.

Rechler Equity Partners applied in March 2017 for a zoning change that would require town officials to approve a switch from the current residential district to a planned development district.

The Town of Islip is overseeing the proposal as it moves through the environmental review process. If approved, the project, to be called Greybarn Sayville, would include a yet-to-be-determined portion of affordable housing units.

“I don’t think they’re actually hearing us,” said Bohemia resident April Iannitelli after the meeting. “We are not a low-income area, so of course we don’t want low-income housing here. We don’t want apartments here. We moved here because I don’t want to be surrounded by apartments.”

Rechler officials have said they are considering ways to address residents’ concerns, but opponents have said those suggestions don’t begin to offset the impact of such a large project.

After the meeting, Greg Rechler said: “Our goal was to open up and maintain a dialogue and from that perspective I view it as a success.”