Islandia considers code change that could revive development project

Islandia officials are weighing changes that could advance plans for a mixed-use development in the village, months after a key Suffolk County panel rejected the long-gestating proposal.

The village declined to vote on code and zoning changes Tuesday night but can at a later date.

The developer, Feldman Properties Inc., is seeking to add two five-story buildings with 50 hotel rooms and 366 residential units — 140 of which would be for residents 55 and older. The property would also include a two-story commercial building, according to a Suffolk County planning commission document.

   The project would be built on 13 acres at the southwest corner of Motor Parkway and Veterans Memorial Highway, about a mile west of Jake’s 58 Casino Hotel.

Plans for that property have faced setbacks since 1998. In January, the commission ruled that a recent proposal had clashed with Islandia’s village code and zoning for that area.

The commission also argued the project did not offer enough of a public benefit to justify its density.

Some of the changes include smaller building heights as well as the age-restricted and affordable housing units, according to a June planning commission report. The report also cited plans for workforce housing.

The village is now weighing whether to change the zoning district's name. The Main Street Planned Development District would become the Veterans Highway Planned Development District. The planning commission voted to support that change on June 3.

The report noted that other aspects of the proposal — including a requirement for age-restricted and affordable housing — provided "an important public benefit to offset the increased density” of the project.

County staffers also said the "modified design layout" for the project improved walkability on the property. In the January rejection, county planners pointed to documents showing residents at the complex would be "car dependent." 

Mayor signals support

Mayor Allan Dorman signaled support for eventually advancing the development.

“It’s a good project. It’s good for the community. It’s going to bring people into the community from all types of areas,” Dorman said at Tuesday’s meeting. “It’s a good deal.”

Kyle Strober, the executive director of the Association for a Better Long Island, a trade group for developers, has advocated for the project in the past. 

"To deliver the housing Long Island so critically needs, the math must work, and that requires density," he told Newsday on Wednesday. "This location — buffered by surrounding commercial and office uses rather than single family homes — is precisely where smart, higher-density development belongs."

At Tuesday's meeting, Hauppauge Fire Department board chairman Louis Zara said his agency has been in talks with the developers. He expressed some concerns about the plan.

“We are concerned about various overhead restrictions, access to the building, access around the building, hydrant locations," Zara said. He added, "we don’t have the ability to get a fire apparatus around the back" of the buildings. 

The developer's attorney, J. Timothy Shea, Jr., said during the hearing that the company has "included a community benefit of $2 million" that will be paid out in pieces "at certain thresholds during the land use approval process."

It's unclear where that money will be going or what specifically it will be used for. A spokesman for Islandia did not immediately respond to Newsday's request for information, and Shea declined to comment after Tuesday's meeting.

Earlier plans evolved

The original 1998 plans called for a hotel and office building, both four-stories. In 2000, the county commission tentatively approved a hotel-office project that never materialized, according to a county staff report from January.

A plan that emerged about four years later included a new "high rise” zoning district. It would have allowed buildings as tall as 14 stories on the property, which could have housed condos and restaurants, according to the report. County planners ultimately rejected that proposal.

In 2008, the planning commission did not approve a proposal for a 500,000-square-foot-project called Islandia Village Center. The panel called it an "over-intensification" of the property, the June report stated. Village officials approved zoning changes to usher in the project, but Islandia Village Center was never built.

The commission's rejection focused largely on the project's density. 

The current proposal must also win site plan approval from the village and county planning commission.

By Sam Kmack

sam.kmack@newsday.com

Sam Kmack covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California and previously worked as a city watchdog reporter in the Phoenix metro area, as well as an investigative journalist at the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting.