What “Season” Is It?

On June 17, 2014 there was a public hearing to discuss the fate of the Oak Tree Dairy property on Elwood Road in East Northport.  The battle has been going on since 2012 when it was first announced that Engel Burman was interested in purchasing the property and asking for a significant zoning change.

At the hearing, 94 individuals spoke. 42 individuals were in support of the project and 52 opposed it. Of those opposed to the project, 45 individuals stated they lived in the Elwood School District while only 7 in support of the projected stated they lived in the Elwood School District. Of the 42 that supported the project, at least 18 of them worked for the builder or will gain financially if the project is built.

At the time of the public hearing, Engel Burman was asking for a change from R-40 Residence District to R-RM Retirement Community District on the 37 acre property. The original plan was submitted in March 2012 and it included 444 units. The developer submitted an amended application to the town for 360 homes. In order for the development to be built, the town would have to make a zone change from 1-acre residence to retirement community district. The latter allows for 14.5 homes per acre.

On Thursday, July 23^rd the Engel Burman Group presented a new plan that would include 256 households within 43 multi-unit residential structures. This new plan calls for 88 3-bedroom unit homes and 168 2-bedroom unit homes. The modification to the site would allow for larger buffers around the entire property and leaves room for more open space.  The overall number of residential structures would be reduced from 56 to 43.  The Engel Burman Group has also pledged a one-time donation of $500,000 to the Elwood Board of Education. The original offer was $1,000,000.

The process has been long and hard for both sides. Unfortunately, this is typical in the town of Huntington under the direction of Supervisor Petrone. Builders with deep pockets are made to jump through hoops and do a lot of wining and dining hoping to seek out community members who will support their project.

Residents who oppose high density development are demonized. Typically, they are accused of spreading misinformation, of being haters, fear mongers and racists. In reality, they are merely trying to preserve their quality of life and protect their greatest asset.

Local home owners and school district officials are made to become detectives to uncover the real facts and the “devil in the details” of many proposed projects. Many hours are spent by taxpaying residents to attend meetings, get educated on the facts and to try to educate others. They spend a great deal of time trying to bring the facts to town officials. Our elected officials should be educating the public, not the other way around.

The battle was put on hold by Supervisor Petrone last October when he asked the developer to take his request off the table. Many viewed this as a shrewd campaign move while he and councilman Cuthbertson were seeking re-election. Not surprisingly, things began to move forward just after the two were re-elected.

Typically, most of the opposition to high density projects are local residents who will be directly affected by the project and often forced to pay for it in some way. The support side is typically made of people who work for the builder, or some other entity that will benefit monetarily from the project and special interest groups that live somewhere other than the immediate area.

The Objections:

The Elwood School District BOE and PTA have been actively opposing the project. What they oppose is “an intensity of use that requires a substantial zoning change that would significantly affect student safety and transportation”. The proposed development abuts their high school and middle school campus, which accommodate more than 1,400 children and dozens of staff members each school day. They are also concerned about the potential long-term threat of overcrowding their schools, because the covenants of a restricted community cannot, by law, be held in perpetuity.

For the most part, it all comes down to the density of the project. We didn’t hear anyone say they have anything against seniors or condo style development.

People are concerned that it doesn’t fit in with the character of the surrounding community.

A major concern is about increased traffic on the already congested Elwood road.

The current zoning is single-family one acre zoning, which would allow for approximately 37 units. If zoning laws are often changed then a buyer can never be sure of what could potentially be built next to them.

The traffic study was paid for by the developer and therefore some feel it lacks objectivity.

There are concerns that the community cannot handle the increased population that may result from 360 new housing units.

There is concern that increasing the senior population will have a negative impact on school budget votes.

Some feel the tax benefit suggested by the developer is based on unrealistic selling prices.

This concern is from the Greater Huntington Civic Groups website. “In a similar project in Dix Hills, “empty nesters” from Dix Hills moved to the new senior housing and sold their homes to young families. The influx of young families into the homes vacated by seniors overwhelmed the Dix Hills School District and quickly cancelled out the anticipated savings.  If 200 units are purchased by current Elwood residents (the developer’s own projection), the families who replace them in their current homes would add hundreds of children to the district rolls.  The new tax revenue will be inadequate to fund the same quality of education. Instead of a slower increase in taxes resulting from this project, there actually may be a higher increase in taxes to support the increase of school aged children.”

Although the builder is offering to covenants banning children, some residents are concerned that any covenants can be over turned after the project is built.

In the case of Avalon Bay Huntington Station, residents were concerned about more rentals being added to the area.  As a compromise, for sale units were added to the plan.  Shortly after the project was approved, the for sale units were removed from the plan.

The Pros 

The pros are simple. The builder and the land owners want to make money and as much of it as they possibly can. There is nothing wrong with this. The environment for builders and developers on long Island is a hostile one. The cost of doing business to get a project to fruition is high. This is a testament to the poor leadership in our elected officials.

Petrone and the majority on the Town Board have helped to create this hostile environment. Builders who want to break ground in most cases need to “defeat” the local community before they can move forward. This involves all kinds of expenses. It would be a great benefit to all sides if we had leadership that demanded above board builders and a transparent process. Town Board members should demand real traffic studies and realistic projections of the number of school aged kids. If builders could save on some of the “cost of doing business” shenanigans they may actually be able to live with lower density and still make reasonable profits.

In order to pass, 4 of the 5 town council members will need to vote in support of the project. Approval of the change will require a supermajority because a petition opposing the project was signed by owners of more than 20 percent of the land directly opposite the proposed development. The petition was presented to the town board last month. It is expected that the Town Board will vote on the current proposal on August 19.