Members of the Village of Roslyn’s Board of Trustees expressed interest in a proposed apartment building for 45 Lumber Road, but said the plans need work at their monthly meeting on Tuesday night over Zoom.
A company called 45 Lumber Road LLC is seeking a special use permit from the village to construct a four-story building consisting of 33 two-bedroom apartments. Under village code, only 27 apartments would normally be permitted in a structure of this type.
Originally, the building had been said to be 12 stories, and drew ire from residents and the Roslyn school district at a public hearing in September.
Roslyn Mayor John Durkin said at the outset of the hearing at the meeting that with the new designs, he was “overall in favor of the application,” but did have some reservations.
“It’s a project which is consistent with the zoning for Lumber Road and can greatly improve the area by introducing residential use, which generally additionally generates less traffic than commercial use, which was the prior use,” Durkin said. “That much is pretty self-evident. However, I do have some concerns and some suggestions as to how the project can be improved.”
Among his suggestions was making some of the planned apartments one-bedroom, which he said would assist in a desired “demographic mix” in Roslyn.
“I think the applicant is willing to do that,” Durkin said.
He finished by briefly discussing the traffic in the area, a point of contention for some.
“We’ll know that the traffic will be heavier in the morning rush, in the evening rush, and in between there’ll be less traffic because of the fact that it will be people commuting to work,” Durkin said. “And so I think that overall, it’s a good project.”
Deputy Mayor Marshall Bernstein then voiced concern over how the building would handle liquid waste, or effluent, and whether there was sufficient treatment capacity at the Roslyn Water District’s pumping station for the project.
“This is of vital importance, because some of you may remember all the issues the village had maybe a couple of decades ago with providing sufficient capacity in that pumping station and issues that arose from that. It’s very important that we know without question, that there is sufficient capacity in the pumping station to deal with this effluent,” Bernstein said. “Let’s be very careful about that, because it’s a major issue in our village, historically.”
Trustee Sarah Oral, who is a traffic engineer, then discussed the site’s proximity to the intersection of Lumber Road and Old Northern Boulevard, considered one of the most dangerous intersections in the Village of Roslyn. Oral suggested the applicants undertake an auto turn analysis to understand how trailer trucks can maneuver in and out of the area, and further suggested a sign denoting a time restriction on when left turns could be made.
Oral also echoed Durkin’s point about having a number of one-bedroom apartments in the structure.
“Just from a planning perspective, if they’re all two-bedroom units, I am not comfortable with that,” Oral said. “I really think it should be a mix of ones and twos. When you want a vibrant downtown, you want a mix of different residences.”
Trustee Craig Westergard, an architect, voiced support for the project, but said his main concern was the building’s aesthetics.
“I was looking at the current design and I was looking at the original design that was submitted some time ago,” Westergard said. “It’s a couple of couple of three, four years. And it’s so ironic to me that the building, the current design of the building, is really quite similar to the original design we looked at.”
Westergard said he thought the proposed design resembled “an office building” and changing it to a three-story design may be “more pleasing.”
“When you look at the facades, and because of the nature of the building, it’s a very boxy building,” Westergard said. “I will be hopeful that the applicant could modify the design.”
During the public comment session, attorney Carrie Anne Tondo of Hauppauge-based Ingerman Smith LLP spoke on behalf of the Roslyn school district.
“The district does support the notion of responsibility when planning for the future of the community,” Tondo said. “And while it’s not generally opposed to redevelopment renovations that serve to benefit the collective constituencies of the village and the district’s developments, as I shared with you in the past, more importantly, multiple developments in a short period of time do have the potential to place a strain on infrastructure, essential community and emergency services, and those community services include the school system.”
Tondo went on to urge the board against acting too quickly on the application.
“These are unprecedented times, especially in the school district setting as it navigates daily challenges to the provision of education during this health crisis, and it’s focused on evaluating the reopening of schools,” Tondo said. “For these reasons and those shared with the board previously by the board president, we do respectfully request the board heed calls during this pandemic to allow for an additional flow of information to be shared, and further information to be adequately evaluated.”
The Village of Roslyn’s Board of Trustees will not meet during the month of August, and will instead meet on Tuesday, Sept. 15, at 8 p.m. over Zoom.
