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Updated 5/1/19
KEY FACTS
(page updated 7/20/14 by adding last paragraph)
Application
For site plan approval
Log No.
13 SP 0067
Location
Montauk Highway, immediately north of Spadaro Airport
SCTM
200-685-1-13.1
Area
22 acres
Existing zoning
PRC Residence
Current use
Wooded
Wetlands
On site
Historic District status
In Eastport Transition Zone
(eastern edge of site only)
Pine Barrens status
North side of lot abuts the Comptible Growth Area
Proposed use
70 PRC units in 12 buildings and a community building
Proposed density
3.1 units per acre
Attorneys
Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman
Hearing date
None scheduled
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These 22 acres of trees on the Montauk Highway and on the north side of Spadaro Airport has been zoned PRC Residence for since 1989. The owner filed an application and an Environmental Assessment Form for approval of a site plan in November2013 to build 70 PRC units in 12 buildings plus a community building. The Planning Division started review of the application, but so far has made only preliminary comments in December 2013 because of the delay described below.
The site abuts unimproved land, some of which has been designated for open space. On its northeast corner, the site abuts the Woodland Meadows for which a site plan for70 single family homes has been approved. That plan calls for the dedication to open space of the treed area northeast of this site. The Town Board has authorized an appraisal of the entire Woodland Meadows site to see if it can be purchased as open space.
Spadaro Airport's being just west of the site may well create issues for the 140 or more residents of the development. They will be warned of the airport's location before they agree to move in if usual procedures are followed, and the 1989 covenants that the Town required when it approved to PRC zoning requires a 250 buffer on the west side of the site. The site plan complies with this.
The Town also required a 100' buffer on Montauk Highway. This too is part of the plan.
SEQRA status
The Town's Environmental Division has reported in a December 2013 preliminary memo that action on the site plan will be a Type I action under SEQRA. That means that there is a presumption that approval would likely have a significant adverse impact on the environment. The Planning Board, however, must still evaluate potential environmental impacts; if there are any that may be significantly adverse, the Board is to issue a positive declaration requiring an EIS.
As the memo indicates, the potential need for an EIS comes from the site's being substantially contiguous to the Pine Barrens Compatible Growth Area and within the South Shore East Critical Environmental Area (which is most of the South Shore). There are also wetlands located in the northeast corner of the site.
A Chromaglass sewage treatment plant is proposed.
No traffic study has been filed so far.
The plan shows sidewalks on one side of the streets within the project, but no sidewalk to the Montauk Highway. Memos from both Town Traffic Safety and County DPW have suggested a sidewalk on the Montauk Highway. The plan does not show a connecting sidewalk.
Planning Commission review and approval, January 2014
The Town referred the application to the County Planning Commission (as it is required to do) in early 2013. The Commission approved the plan in January 2014 with comments proposed by its staff; the comments were not such as to noticeably hinder the developer.
Delay, June 2014
The Planning Department suspended its review of the application. As it explained in a letter to the applicant:
"It has come to our attention that in the CR51 Corridor Land Use Plan adopted in 2007, there was a paragraph stating that the owner of the airport received funding from the FAA to purchase the subject parcel to accommodate airport improvements. The FAA stipulated that the property could only be used for airport purposes even though it is zoned PRC.
"Please submit documentation showing this stipulation has been lifted so review of your application can continue."
HDAC review, August and September 2016
Because part of the property is in the Eastport Historic District Transitional Zone, in August 2016, the developer applied the the HDAC for approval of its plans. The application was found to be incomplete at first and the Committee seriously criticized aspects of the plans, but the plans were approved on September 13, 2016 after additional materials (not reviewed by EMPOA) had been submitted.
FAA land release requested and is about to be acted on, 2019
Request for a FAA land release to be ruled on soon, 2019
In 2016, a request for release of the FAA's "lien" was filed. In April 2018, notice was given that a draft Environmental Assessment had been prepared under the National Environmental Protection Act and that comments on it could be submitted. In January 2019, the local FAA office made findings of no significant impact based on the Environmental Assessment and gave public notice of the findings. In April 2019, the FAA office invited public comment on the release application to accommodate development of the PRC. Comments must be delivered to the FAA by May 8, 2019.
