Officials offer assessments of ‘downtown’

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“Long Island is changing and increasing quickly.”

That was the assessment last Friday of Jorge Martinez, deputy mayor of Freeport, who also noted that the South Shore is “still hurting from [Hurricane] Sandy.”

Martinez was one of the speakers assembled at the Downtown Showcase workshop, part of the Smart Growth Summit produced by Vision Long Island, a planning agency that promotes livable, economically sustainable and environmentally responsible growth on Long Island.

He praised Nassau County Legislator Laura Curran, of the 5th District, who was also on the panel, for ignoring party lines to help Freeport find money to improve the village. He said several years ago Nassau gave Freeport $2 million, but the money was never distributed. With Curran’s help, he said, Freeport finally received the money, which is being used to improve North Freeport.

For her part, Curran spoke about the Complete Streets study done by the county Public Works Department. Presented last week at a public meeting, the study looks at traffic patterns and other issues facing Grand Avenue in Baldwin, and makes recommendations to calm traffic, increase walkability in the community and adjust traffic to accommodate all types of vehicles, not just cars.

“The challenge of Baldwin,” said Curran, a Democrat, “is that it’s not incorporated and there is no natural downtown. The main avenue (Grand Avenue) doesn’t reflect the charm of Baldwin.”

She described Baldwin as of a few communities that are “truly integrated.”

“How can we solve this?” she asked. “It’s a lot to ask. The first thing is to redo Grand Avenue.”

She said the study focused on making Grand Avenue better, with an eye toward improving it for cars, businesses and pedestrians. Among the suggested improvements are improving pedestrian crossings by creating “bumpouts,” that would create an option for bike lanes or for wider parking lanes.

At a second panel on Transit-oriented development, also known as TOD, several developers provided examples of how to grow, develop and revitalize our downtowns. TOD is a type of community development that includes a mixture of housing, office, retail and/or other amenities integrated into a walkable neighborhood and located within a half-mile of quality public transportation.

David Panetta, representing Cushman and Wakefield said TOD “is a solution to a long-standing problem on how we retain our young people and broaden our tax base,” he said. Panetta explained that many companies “don’t want to open offices on Long Island because they don’t have the demographics, that is young workers between the ages of 25 to 35 to fill their ranks. Instead they go places like Long Island City.”

But TOD development on Long Island can change that. Within the last few years, over 10,300 units of transit oriented development and revitalization programs will take place in over 50 Long Island downtowns, including Baldwin and Freeport. While the panel did not specifically discuss Baldwin’s downtown development or the redevelopment of the North Main Street corridor in Freeport, the developers provided examples of how to they were able to overcome NYMBYism, work with local governments, civic groups and sometimes piece-meal properties to create multi-family housing that is attractive and convenient. “TOD creates better access to jobs, housing and opportunities for people of all ages and incomes,” Anthony Bartone, Bartone Properties said. In Farmingdale Bartone properties partnered with Terwilliger to create a 42-unit rental community, named The Cornerstone that broke ground in September, with occupancy expected June 2016. “Revitalization in downtown Farmingdale has been infectious.,” Bartone said “Retailers have begun doing façade improvements and the 23 vacant stores on Main Street are no occupied.”

In Mineola a 600 unit dwelling is underway. Jamie Stover of Mill Creek Residential said that community involvement helped to shape the project. “We adopted the Development Incentive Bonus Overlay District which included the Mineola train station. We overlaid on the existing zoning to allow applicants to get variances for multi-family dwellings, parking and bulk requirements,” he said. In return “the developer has to provide one or more public benefits such as open space or parks,” he added.

But work on these projects is “long and complicated,” Bartone said.

“Villages move more swiftly. They seem to be more agile,” Panetta added.

However, all the developers agreed that there is a great need for this kind of housing. “We see there is added values created through this kind of development,” including increased property values where transit investments have occurred,” Bartone said.

Other speakers on the panel included Farmingdale Clerk-Treasurer Brian Harty, Glen Cove Deputy Mayor Barbara Peebles, Mineola Village Clerk Joseph Scalero, Westbury Mayor Peter Cavallaro and Mindy Germain, of Residents for a More Beautiful Port Washington. The moderator was Long Island Herald Executive Editor John C. O’Connell.

-Laura Schofer contributed to this story.