Once again, we see a developer proposing the construction of a large housing complex on Long Island and local civic associations coming out against it.
I’m referring to the proposal for 890 units to be built on the 114-acre site of the former Island Hills golf and country club in Sayville. The project calls for 576 of the units for homeownership and the remaining 314 for rentals.
This proposal has been languishing for about a decade. The original mammoth plans have been scaled back a bit, but residents still feel that the size and scope of the project is too much for the local roads and schools to bear.
It’s a constant refrain across Long Island. But most of us agree that there’s a need for more housing, especially the type that would help our young people in their 20s get a foothold on the Island.
Each side has legitimate concerns. That hasn’t changed much over the past few decades. It’s why, as Suffolk County executive, I proposed adopting a new paradigm when it comes to housing construction.
Wherever developers are going to be constructing new self-contained housing developments, I recommended that they be encouraged to build two-family housing. That would provide the same number of units sought by the developers, but with a smaller footprint. More important, it would help accomplish several goals at the same time.
The first is that it would open the door to homeownership for those who might otherwise be shut out because they couldn’t afford a mortgage. Showing a bank that they’ll have an additional $2,000 a month coming in from a rental apartment could help potential homeowners qualify for the loan they would otherwise be denied.
And, of course, it would provide needed rental housing, which we are sorely lacking on Long Island.
The nearby New York City suburb of Westchester has rental stock comprising 38 percent of all the county’s housing. Here on Long Island it’s about 15 percent. That’s why our rents have soared into the stratosphere.
But homeowners are understandably concerned that allowing all of the homes in their neighborhood to have rentals could dramatically change the concept of the neighborhoods into which they originally moved.
That’s not what we’re talking about here. In this case, we’re referring to a self-contained, gated community that doesn’t currently exist. Why not allow for 450 units of these two-family homes on the premises rather than 900 sought by the developer?
Concerns about renters not having a stake in the property would be unfounded given the fact that the owner of a home would have to live on the premises if they rented out the apartment unit. No homeowner is going to allow their renter to engage in improper activities or to allow the premises to degrade when they themselves are living on the site.
This concept can reserve more buffer and open space in the community and create a good mix of the young and the old. I get it that people don’t want two-family housing in their existing single-family neighborhoods, but when it’s new construction, why not encourage two-family housing? It’s a win-win for all.
I tried to get such a project passed in Yaphank during my tenure as county executive. We would’ve had 1,000 units of two-family homes with a nice community center and possibly a convention center and a small soccer stadium for sports and entertainment. Unfortunately, “not in my backyard” legislators killed the project.
It’s not too late to try it now. A smart developer would latch on to it, and so would a smart town board. And residents would have places where their 25-year-olds could go rather than their basements.
Steve Levy is an attorney who served as the seventh county executive in Suffolk from 2004 to 2011.
