Officials talk development

The charm that makes everyone want to stay in our town -- I feel like it would be lost with so much of an overcrowded aspect to it.”

Kristen Glynn, Rockville Centre resident

The village board presented a preliminary plan for a multi-family, transit-oriented development at a town hall meeting at the Sandel Senior Center on Oct. 27, which received mixed reviews from residents and officials.

Mayor Francis Murray and the trustees sat before an audience of dozens of residents to get input on the proposal, which was prepared by a Manhattan-based consulting firm, BFJ Planning. Some voiced their support for the plan for housing near the Long Island Rail Road station, which offered few specifics beyond the general location because it is still in the preliminary stage, while others expressed concerns. The project would include new buildings up to three stories tall, also grandfathering in existing larger structures, like the now empty Rockville Centre Diocese building.

Resident and certified city planner Stacey Pfaff said she was in favor of the proposal, but encouraged the village to conduct an environmental impact study to identify its potential affects. “I would hope that we seriously consider this,” she said, “but do such a study and put the onus on the developer to pay for any mitigation if there are impacts for parking, open space, schools, or anything else that that report would uncover.”

Murray said that Pfaff’s suggestion could be the next step in the process if the village decides to go ahead with the proposal.

Mark Truisi, a resident, an architect and a member of the mayor’s Zoning Advisory Committee, said he was concerned about the village losing its character. “I fear that if we don’t put together a plan, Sunrise Highway is going to look like Long Beach Road,” Truisi said. He added that he did not want business plazas like ones in Oceanside to break up the small-town aesthetic of the village.

“If you picture a multi-family dwelling, that’s at least three or four more cars in our area, and where are those going to be put?” resident Marc Stromberg said. Stromberg was one of a few speakers who said they were worried about congestion in the area. He preferred the use of existing structures, he said, noting, as Murray did, that the businesses lost during the pandemic would be replaced because of local demand.

Another attendee, Kristen Glynn, said she had grown up and bought her first house in the village, and was not in favor of any large development. “The charm that makes everyone want to stay in our town — I feel like it would be lost with so much of an overcrowded aspect to it,” Glynn said. “It’s just not the town that we grew to love.”

Shawn Dacey, a resident for the past four years, expressed his full support for the proposal, citing environmental, economic and health reasons. Dacey, who has a background in real estate and finance, said there would be plenty of positives to additional development.

“Increased development near train stations can lead to a wide range of benefits,” he said, citing a Rutgers University study. “These benefits range from increased interactions among neighbors and those within a community, more walking activity and consequential health benefits, less driving and increased tax revenue for the municipality from the increased property values of the downtown core.”

Village officials said they had been approached by local building owners in the business district, as well as some residents, about the possibility of mixed-use construction close to the LIRR station. In early 2019, officials commissioned the study by BFJ, which concluded in January and determined that a transit-oriented development downtown was feasible.

Trustee Michael Sepe closed the meeting by stating his opposition to the proposal.

“There’s nothing curmudgeonly about saying we want to maintain the village as it is,” he said. “Personally, I think there are plenty of pros. The cons — just my opinion — outweigh them.”