By:Angela Marshall
Environmental testing of the proposed Signature Place apartments site revealed chemicals in the soil, which will have to be removed before any construction can take place. Because of the expense associated with remediation, the developers do not want to commit to the cleanup until the project has been approved by the village-s Planning Board. However, members of the board balked at the idea of signing off on the project-s environmental impact without knowing the remedial plans.
The chemicals, which are often associated with dry-cleaning businesses, were found during a routine environmental assessment of the land for the purpose of obtaining financing. Speaking during the Jan. 20 Planning Board meeting, Michael Faltischek, attorney for the developers, Chase Partners, said that verbal and written histories of the property gave no indication that a problem might exist.
Faltischek said the developers would fully comply with all requirements of the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Chase Partners plans to build a 349-unit apartment complex on the 7.1-acre site of the former Darby Drugs on Banks Avenue, north of the King Kullen shopping center. The developers have been meeting with the Planning Board since last April. They need environmental and site plan approval to proceed.
The environmental hearings were closed in the fall, and the developer-s final response to all questions posed by the board and the public is expected to be completed within the next two weeks.
The site-plan review hearings moved into the public-comment stage last Tuesday. There were few surprises among the many objections raised by the 17 residents who spoke out against the project. Traffic, potential school congestion and the fear of village Queensification topped the list, just as they did during the environmental hearings.
Kevin O-Brien, of Hendrickson Avenue, said he believes the apartment complex would be a bad idea for the area and a bad idea for the village. It will forever change the look and feel of the town.
One of O-Brien-s main complaints was the use of Banks Avenue as a means of entering and exiting the complex. Banks Avenue, often mistaken for the driveway to the King Kullen parking lot, was described as treacherous by another protester. Rick Gask said it wasn-t until his wife was involved in a car accident with one of the many Long Island MTA buses that frequent the area that he realized how bad the street was. The MTA bus depot is just south of the Darby site.
Chase Partners has submitted proposals to make Banks Avenue safer, but King Kullen holds a 49-year license agreement with the village for the use of the street, which doesn-t expire until 2044. Grocery store representatives maintain that Banks Avenue can handle the traffic increase without any changes.
Other residents, like Susan Tafoya and the Krahm family, were frustrated by the effect they believe such a big complex will have on Rockville Centre schools. The school situation is very scary, Tafoya said. With more than 200 of the apartments expected to be two-bedroom units, she said, I can-t imagine what-s going to be in those bedrooms, if not children.
Chase-s experts have said the project will generate between 19 and 29 students. No representatives from the school district spoke at last week-s hearing, and Superintendent William Johnson wrote in a letter to the Planning Board that the district is taking a neutral position on the project.
Andrew Krahm, a third-grader at Riverside School, which the Signature Place children would attend, said he wouldn-t want to see his school become crowded or the outside play area reduced to make room for more classrooms.
Andrew was the third Krahm family member to speak. His father, Charles, said the complex is too big; it just doesn-t belong. He said the development would tax the Rockville Centre Fire Department and erode response times. Why not consider a park in that area? he asked.
Mary Beth Kearns, chairwoman of the Planning Board, explained to Krahm and the other residents that members of the board would prefer another project to the apartment complex, but that what was built there wasn-t up to them. The board, she said, was only charged with studying the proposal before it and making a decision about its potential impact on the village.
The Planning Board will continue the Signature Place site-plan review hearing on Tuesday, Feb. 24, at 7:30 p.m. in Village Hall, 1 College Place.
