A stretch of Plainview forestland inhabiting property coveted by the Town of Oyster Bay and a local developer received another reprieve in Nassau County Supreme Court last week.
According to a judge’s order, the ban on work at the site of the 145-acre Country Pointe development at Round Swamp Road and Old Country Road will continue at least through late August. The extended delay in the project’s start will provide an opportunity for attorneys representing the town and developers to submit papers opposing the lawsuit brought by local citizens.
The lawsuit, levied against the town, Beechwood POB LLC and Plainview Properties LLC, by Old Bethpage residents Glenn and Bridget Denton, Kathleen Duval and Francis and Fay Scally, alleges that the town and the developer violated the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). The plaintiffs filed an “Article 78 petition” on June 12, outlining four broad areas of alleged omissions, errors and mis-statements in the environmental review the town was required to perform under SEQRA.
The plaintiffs also say that what was originally promised to remain forestland is now labeled as sports fields on the latest town-approved site plan. In a second petition filed on July 8, the plaintiffs state that the site plan approved by the town board on May 12 illustrates plans to destroy the 15 acres of forest listed as “preserved” in the environmental review in favor of athletic fields along Round Swamp Road.
“This new issue is clearly a ‘smoking gun’ for this lawsuit,” said environmental advocate Richard Brummel, who has helped the residents bring their case to court. “The deception in the town’s environmental review by planning new athletic fields on so-called ‘preserved forest’ was already described in the original Article 78 petition, but the approved ‘site plan’ actually sketches them in, so they are obvious for all to see.”
The town did not return a request for comment and due to its company policy on litigation matters, Beechwood did not comment.
During the court appearance on July 8, Justice George R. Peck said that upon receiving the town and developers’ papers in August, he will begin considering whether to issue a formal injunction while the underlying case is pending. He said he might decide to hold an additional hearing on the issues as needed. Peck also informed the parties that prior to his decision, he wishes to visit the site to see it for himself.
The 145-acre parcel is the former home of the tree rich Nassau County East office campus and is now home to various soccer leagues and an estimated 55 species of birds, mammals and other wildlife, as well as dozens of acres of woods, meadows and shrubland.
“The fact that the judge is interested enough to want to see the area for himself is a good sign for us,” said Glenn Denton, one of the plaintiffs. “Hopefully he’ll see the town’s site plan is unacceptable as is and will completely change the character of the neigborhood.”
The Country Pointe at Plainview project is planned and approved as a 750-unit and multiple retail-store development that will transform the 145-acre site into a concentrated clutch of townhouses, houses and apartments bordered by stores and parking fields along Old Country Road. On its eastern side is Round Swamp Road, a residential area.
The plaintiffs held a two-and-a-half hour public meeting on July 2 at the Plainview-Old Bethpage Public Library auditorium that drew about 30 local residents, all of them apparently in support of the effort to overturn the environmental review and halt the project. The plaintiffs said they are currently reviewing plans for a second meeting at the library in the near future.
For more information on the petitioners, email protectpob@gmail.com.
