Village of Valley Stream to solicit proposals for property south of Sun Valley Towers

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The board of trustees voted on Feb. 21 to authorize a request for developer proposals for a section of land just south of Sun Valley Towers, at 4th Street.

“It allows us to lay out interests,” said Mayor Ed Fare.

A request for proposals, or RFP, is a document announcing that a plot of land is available for development. It outlines the contract terms and provides guidance on how the proposal should be formatted.

The board authorized the expenditure of $6,000 to pay Sahn Ward Coschignano & Baker, PLLC of Uniondale, to draft the document. Fare said $6,000 was a bargain, and that other firms were asking for $10,000.

Fare was unsure how long it would take to draft the document.

“We have to contract and contact the firm writing it,” he said. “Then, we want the board of trustees and building department to fully vet and review, before it is published for proposals.”

Before a proposal is written, however, Fare said the building department needed to track down the owner of the property — there are vacant homes and a reportedly illegal four-family house. He said he would like to see this property improved to provide the village with more tax revenue.

“We would like to see if there are some proposals that fit in with our master plan,” Fare said.

RFPs are fairly common. In 2011, a Nassau County RFP was used to solicit proposals to develop multi-family housing in residential areas in Valley Stream. An RFP was issued in Lynbrook in 2016 to develop commercial property at 5 Freer Street and New York City is currently seeking proposals for boardwalk development at Coney Island.

Fare said he hopes to hear a range of proposals because he believes there will be several developers interested in the land. “We have a number of parcels around the village that developers are interested in,” he said.