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Long Island Homes project undergoes some changes; final SEQUA decision pending by Carolyn James When they initially outlined their plans to bring a Lowe’s Home Improvement store and senior housing project to 58+ acres on Sunrise Highway in Massapequa, Amityville Village and Babylon, residents raised concerns about the proposal. Now, after working to meet the issues raised by civic leaders and residents, the project developers have made some major modifications to the plan, hoping to win more local support. In addition, the final environmental review, which includes construction of senior housing both in Oyster Bay and Amityville, has been submitted and accepted as complete to the Town Oyster Bay, which is the lead agency for the SEQUA process. The Town will now review the document and all interested parties and the public has until August 25 to provide final input. Following that the Town will vote to either accept or reject it. If it is accepted, then the Town will set a public hearing on the zoning change for the Oyster Bay portion. Zoning hearings on the development in the Amityville Village portion can then also proceed. Lowe’s, to be located on the southwest end of the property entirely within the Town of Oyster Bay, will be smaller than initially proposed, and a common road which ran through the proposed senior housing complex to the store’s parking lot, has been eliminated. The Lowe’s Corporation also reduced the size of the building to 139,132 square feet with 116,000 to be used for sales. Limiting the sales space, said Lowe’s officials, would limit the amount of deliveries to the store, and the number of trucks loading and unloading there. In addition, the engineers altered the traffic flow plans for the site. Instead of using a common road for the residents and the Lowe’s complex, plans now call for separating the two sites. Traffic will enter the Lowe’s site, if the plan is approved, from Sunrise Highway. Customers will park in a lot in front of the store, while commercial vehicles delivering to the store will move around the west side of the building and to the back loading docks. From there, it will exit on to Louden Avenue, a road that Lowe’s will widen and expand to accommodate additional traffic. Patrick L. Lenihan P.E, of Dunn Engineering Associates in Westhampton Beach, which worked on the project said the installation of a traffic signal at Sunrise Highway and the Lowe’s entrance, will regulate the flow in and out of the site. Most significant, it will stop westbound traffic as drivers exit the Lowe’s site to head west, or make a u-turn at Louden to head east on Sunrise Highway. In addition, the site will be landscaped. The parking lot in front of Lowe’s will be covered by a 50-foot berm and not visible from Sunrise Highway, though the store will be in clear view of those traveling the route. "This was a classic example of the public coming to us with some good ideas where we went back to the drawing board and came up with a better plan as a result," said Lenihan. Gary Slavin, who represents one of several civic associations in the area which is monitoring and providing input into the project said that it is not likely that residents living near the site will be satisfied with anything except leaving the property in its natural state but that in the broader view, the proposal "strikes a good balance. "Putting in senior housing meets the needs of the Massapequa community," said Slavin, who added that he hopes that even after the project is built, that the Lowes company remains sensitive to their neighbors. "Sometimes things look great on paper but don't work out," he said. "They (Lowes) have to be willing to listen and change things when necessary." Paul J. Bloom of Morton Weber and Associates, the law firm representing Lowes said the corporation will eventually have to go to the State Department of Transportation for approval of the road modifications on Sunrise Highway, but do not need those approvals before going before the Oyster Bay Town Board for a zoning change that, if approved, would permit construction of the Lowe’s and the senior units in that Town. Chris Ahearn, a spokesman for Lowe’s said the company does its largest portion of its business from mid January to Thanksgiving, which was another reason that Lowe’s is a good choice for the area as opposed to a large wholesale store such as BJ’s which had been interested in the site. "With the Sunrise Mall within a short distance of the site, there was a concern that another type of commercial developer would compete with the mall, as well as add considerable traffic during the [Christmas and Chanukah] holiday season rush, which was a major concern to us as well as residents," said Doug Kydd, a spokesman for Long Island Homes. "Lowe’s does 30 percent less business between Thanksgiving and January, which is why it fits into this picture so well," said Chris Ahearn, a spokesman for Lowe’s. The site is zoned residential and the developer for the senior housing portion will require approval from Oyster Bay and the Village of Amityville to build senior housing units there. Plans call for owner-occupied units in Oyster Bay and rental assisted living units in Amityville. In discussing the proposals, Kydd said the representatives of Long Island Homes, which has owned the land since , discussed several proposals keeping in mind both the financial advantages and disadvantages, as well as the impact of developing the land on the community. "One of the issues was the impact on the school district," he said. "This project will not add a single child to the school district, but it will generate a great deal of tax money to help reduce the impact of school taxes on residents." Initial discussions with the municipalities indicated that building senior housing on the entire site was not welcome either, said Kydd since it would over saturate the area. Already a senior housing project is underway at the corner of County Line Road and Merrick Road, another is being considered for Old Sunrise Highway, and there are other smaller sites throughout Massapequa and Amityville serving this population of residents. In the Oyster Bay portion, the developers plan to construct, the Lowe’s on 16.62 acres, as well as 308 S-2 golden Age Cooperative apartments on 22.64 acres. Baseball fields will be developed on 1.7 acres. In the Amityville portion, 136 senior rental units will be developed on 7.67 acres as well as baseball and soccer fields. On the remaining 4.72 acres. A 120 unit assisted living facility for 160 residents is planned.
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