Townhouses likely to replace Woodlands site

Although the owner of the former Woodlands Nursery property has not yet submitted formal paperwork to the Malverne Village Board, he’s working on a proposal to request a zoning change that will potentially allow him to build townhouses on the Franklin Avenue site.

At the board’s Oct. 5 meeting, Buildings Department Superintendent Rich Barbieri told Mayor Patricia McDonald and trustees that by this week owner Agostino Esposito would submit his rezoning proposal.

“It will come to the Board of Trustees first … and then have to go to several different boards,” Barbieri said, noting that it would likely go through the zoning, planning and Architectural Review boards. “It’s going to be scrutinized and in public.”

Three buildings on the former Woodlands site were demolished in mid-August and the land now sits vacant.

From early on, before the buildings there were even demolished, McDonald and Trustee Michael Bailey were worried about future development on the site, citing density and other concerns. The village allows for a minimum lot size of 6,000 square feet. If Esposito proposes the construction of townhouses, the board would have to consider changing the reasonable or proper density allowance, which Bailey said would be done with public input.

“Our concern is that whatever goes up there, it’s a one-shot deal — it’s there permanently — and we just want to make sure that the residents, especially the ones that live around that area, have some input,” McDonald said, “and that it’s done right and done well. I just want to make sure its within the character and charm of the village.”