Long Island must develop its future
The parking lot on the south side of the LIRR station in Westbury. The MTA is seeking proposals to turn a Westbury commuter parking lot by the train station into residential apartments, a development that officials are counting on to generate revenue for the agency and boost local economy. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
As state and local officials take steps to reopen the economy and push it toward recovery, they must keep the focus on new opportunities for economic investment.
Long Island needs to accelerate its transformation into a modern suburb, one that builds housing, retail and more around its train stations, that rethinks possibilities for some of its dreary strip malls and empty shopping centers and is more willing and able to innovate.
That's why the state's most recent attempts to find ways to make it easier to redevelop the land around train stations — and to remake underutilized commercial properties into housing — are critical. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo proposed two such measures in his executive budget this year. While neither likely will make a massive difference in Long Island economic development efforts, together they create a good foundation on which local and state officials, developers and advocates can build.
One provision would ease zoning restrictions so underutilized commercial properties in New York City — particularly hotels and office buildings — could be converted into housing. The measure is in direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic, state officials said. The state should consider expanding the policy's reach to include Long Island, and a wider array of properties. There are ample opportunities for the region to remake its underutilized commercial stretches, particularly retail centers with long-standing vacancies. Nassau and Suffolk need a boost from the state to help jump-start that effort.
Cuomo also introduced a concept known as "rail advantaged housing" — a new moniker, it seems, for the efforts more often described as transit-oriented development. Cuomo's budget — and the State Senate's one-house budget — include the idea that the state could allow certain projects in transit hubs that meet certain standards to bypass some of the state's environmental review process. The Department of State would establish those regulations, and the details will matter. The provision only applies in cases when village, town or county officials already support the project, so its reach on Long Island may be limited since, too often, the "no" on the Island comes quickly. But in villages like Patchogue and Westbury, where mayors have been supportive of new development, the act could help.
And, as local advocates have noted, even the perception that the state is paying attention makes a difference in promoting new development near train stations. That alone could make a difference in pushing along existing revitalization efforts in communities like Hicksville and Baldwin.
State lawmakers and Cuomo should work together to include both provisions in the final budget and to make them as meaningful as possible for areas like Long Island. High housing prices reflect the critical need for more housing, and pandemic job losses close to 100,000 reflect how desperate the region is for a different approach. Long Island needs every economic boost it can get.
— The editorial board
