Bolla gas station and convenience store proposal for Bay Shore riles residents

The battle over a proposed Bolla gas station on a blighted Bay Shore lot continues to simmer 10 months after developers first tried to convince residents that the site was appropriate.

Islip Town's Zoning Board of Appeals reserved a decision on a variance application at a nearly five-hour-long hearing Tuesday night -- which ended just before 1 a.m. Wednesday-- after hours of testimony from attorneys and experts on both sides.

The owner of the property, Island Associates Real Estate Inc., under the name 301 W. Main Street LLC, is seeking to transform the three parcels from BU1 zoning to BU3, which would allow for more density, to accommodate its six fueling stations and a 2,500 square-foot convenience store.

Islip Town's Planning Board won't make its final recommendation on the proposed zone change to the Town Board -- which has the ultimate say on the project -- until the ZBA makes its call on a decades-old Town Code ordinance, said Richard Zapolski, Islip's planning commissioner.

"If they don't get the ZBA variance, they don't come back," to the planning board, Zapolski said.

The one-acre site -- on the north side of Main Street between Seafield Lane and Sunset Road -- sits within 67 feet of New Hope International Ministries and 127 feet from the Bay Shore-Brightwaters Public Library.

Town Code states: "No gasoline service station premises shall be permitted to locate within 200 feet of a school, playground, recreation center, public library or church."

The gas station could be built if the library and house of worship consented, but the library submitted a letter denying consent to the Town on May 29. Bolla's attorney, Keith Brown, of Melville-based Brown & Altman LLP, said at the meeting the house of worship has not responded to requests for consent. Attempts by a reporter to reach officials at New Hope were unsuccessful.

The ZBA has 62 days to decide.

William Wexler, a North Babylon-based attorney who sits on the ZBA, called the matter "complex."

"There was a pound of documents given to us and to give justice to all sides, we need to spend hours reviewing it and sifting through it," Wexler said in an interview. "We want to give the appropriate time to do a case like that."

The proposed $3 million project would also require another variance to allow it to be zoned BU3. Town code requires a BU3 site to be at least 40,000 square feet, while these parcels measure a total of 39,389 feet.