Village of Roslyn trustees heard a presentation by a developer last Tuesday about a 54-unit apartment building on the vacant land on the North side of the viaduct on West Shore Road.
Attorney Michael Sahn said Albertson Avenue LLC plans to seek a special-use permit, development incentives, and variances to construct the residential rental building.
“We believe and suggest that, based on all the information we will present tonight and at subsequent meetings, that these variances with the incentives and the approvals are warranted under the village code for the factors that the village code sets forth for approval,” Sahn said. “Namely that this is consistent with the proposed waterfront development and the enhancement of the village through various community benefits.”
Sahn said the development incentives they are seeking include the construction of a walkway connecting the proposed property to the existing walkway on the waterfront, landscape improvements, and a proposal for a 10% affordable housing component.
“We do have a letter of non-jurisdiction from the DEC that we filed so that no proposed construction would require any further DEC approval,” Sahn said. “That leaves the jurisdiction entirely to the village board to approve the application or take other action that the board deems appropriate.”
The proposed building is L-shaped, with an overall height of three stories from West Shore Road, and will appear as a six-story building on the waterfront. The proposed apartment building plans call for 21 one-bedroom apartments, 28 two-bedroom apartments and five three-bedroom. Seventy-nine parking spaces are proposed, with 19 of them in a private garage, Sahn said.
Further information regarding the plan was presented to the board by the architects, civil engineer and traffic engineer.
“Our main goal here was to be sensitive to the aesthetic and history of the village while also maximizing the views and the potential of the property for the residents,” the architect from the UP Studio, Adam Wanaselja said.
Wanaselja said renderings of the proposed building showed brick with large windows facing the road and floor-to-ceiling windows facing the waterfront to maximize views.
Civil engineer Mike Rant from Northcoast Civil presented a schematic layout of the building.
“We have located and marked out the wetlands. We plan to try to keep all the improvement to the west side, as far away from the wetlands as possible,” Rant said.
Board members raised concerns about drivers leaving the property with such a steep grade change from the road to the building.
“The building is set back 10 feet from the front property line and there’s another about 8 feet or so to the edge of the road. We tried to create a flat transition space as you leave the site,” Rant said.
Keyan Cody from R&M Engineering answered questions about the proposed apartment building’s traffic impacts on the area. Cody said the traffic engineers studied five intersections in the area during the weekday morning, midday, and evening periods and the weekend midday period.
“We found very little impact on any of the intersections,” Cody said. “The main intersection that we found the biggest impact at was the site driveway and intersection.”
The traffic engineers determined possible mitigation measures that could be implemented with approval from the Nassau County Department of Public Works because West Shore Road is a county road, Cody said.
“We found that implementing a two-way left turn lane where the existing median and left turn lane are located allows for what’s known as a two-phase merge,” Cody said. “It essentially allows you to not have to shoot for a simultaneous gap in both traffic streams but breaks up your merge into two phases. So you’re less encumbered by waiting for that one specific moment.”
At a previous meeting with the Nassau County Planning Commission, the applicant received concerns regarding the potential for a concentration of higher school enrollment due to the building.
Sahn said that based on three studies of the impact of multifamily housing development on rural communities, a building such as the proposed one can accommodate five school-age students.
The board presented questions to the applicant, which will be addressed at the next public hearing at the Village of Roslyn’s October board meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 15, Village of Roslyn Mayor John Durkin said.
