43.0°,
Partly Cloudy Development scenarios unveiled
Officials propose housing, retail near train station
The area around Valley Stream’s Long Island Rail Road station, which includes the village’s downtown, may be in store for some major changes in the coming years, with housing, retail and parking structures potentially on the way.
Nassau County planners and development firms that have contracts with the county unveiled two development scenarios last week, after Valley Stream was one of three communities selected in July for the Nassau County Infill Redevelopment Study, a federally funded study that explores ways to promote development surrounding LIRR stations. Lynbrook and Baldwin were also selected out of a pool of 21 communities with LIRR stations.
Last year, the county received $350,000 of a $3.5 million New York and Connecticut Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant to conduct the study, according to Nassau County DPW Commissioner Shila Shah-Gavnoudias. Funds were awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Each scenario would add residential housing units, retail space and structured parking on two village-owned parking lots north of the train station, across from Village Green on Hicks Street. A third village-owned lot, in between Sunrise Highway and the train station, could also be reconfigured.
Tom Jost, a senior urban strategist for Parsons Brinkerhoff, a firm hired by Nassau County, said that he and the other planners wanted to find sites that could be developed quickly, which is why village-owned land was chosen, and not private parcels. Jost added that the challenge in developing the downtown is finding a balance among the areas devoted to parking, mixed-used residential and retail development.
In the first scenario, a five-story building would be built on the northern lot between West Jamaica Avenue and West Hawthorne Avenue, while retail and structured parking, with 645 spaces, would be built on the lot closest to the station.
Scenario 2 features two five-story residential housing units on the western side of each lot, with ground-level restaurants. Structured parking (690 spaces) and retail would be offered on the eastern portion of the lot, closest to the station.
