Cornerstone parking requirements met

Once again, Terwilliger & Bartone has presented an amended design of Cornerstone Waterfront at Patchogue, a proposed 50-unit apartment complex and marina dock along the Patchogue River on Mulford Street, to the Village
of Patchogue Planning Board. The first of three public meetings on the matter,
Thursday, Jan. 14, featured a presentation from the applicant discussing the amendments made as well as questions from the planning board.

As the previous design fell short of the parking requirements by 30 stalls (124
total compared to the necessary 154), the developer incorporated an elevated
parking deck on the north side of the site that creates 22 additional spaces. Enough space for 10 additional stalls was found, too.

Furthermore, the residential parcels just southwest of the Mulford Street/West Avenue intersection would be purchased by the developer and land-banked for parking purposes, if necessary.

“That would be a beautifully landscaped area. We are proposing for that to be land-banked for parking until at such time it is determined that it is needed.
What it does is allows part of the site to be put in the bank for parking,” said
Kathleen Deegan Dickson, an attorney representing the developer. “We are willing to create [additional] parking, but we do not believe that it is necessary.”

Additionally, concerns regarding the main structure’s setback from Mulford
Street as well as pedestrian access to the site were addressed by the developer.

“We now have a code-compliant 10-foot setback from Mulford Street. We have
added sidewalks all the way along from West Avenue down to the waterfront on both sides of the street,” Dickson said.

As per the new design, the developer  also increased the distance between the building and the parking spaces to a minimum of four feet. The existing marina building will be demolished in order to construct a clubhouse structure in its
place.

“It will be modern, energy-efficient and properly constructed,” Dickson said,
adding that the building will mainly be used for marina offices, restrooms and
showers for people who keep their boats at the marina, and an area to sit where there is no expectation that there will be a restaurant.

The 2.15-acre parcel is partially zoned E-Industrial and C-Residential. The initial application proposed here by the developer, in February 2018, featured
74 apartment units and five stories and sought a special-use permit. With additional public hearings regarding the application in March and July of 2019,
the planning board ultimately recommended that the board of trustees not grant a special-use permit regarding the project due to issues with the site plan.

The second public hearing regarding the application, in which the public is
granted the opportunity to provide input on the project, is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. via Zoom. The recording of the virtual meeting will also be streamed live on the Village of Patchogue’s YouTube channel.
Written comments and questions can be submitted prior to the third public
hearing, in which a sufficient window of time for providing commentary is
supplied.

The third public hearing regarding the application is not yet scheduled, but will
feature the applicant’s response to any and/or all of the questions or comments
presented by the public in the previous hearing, on Jan. 27. Additionally, it is an
opportunity for members of the planning board to ask final questions.

“The anticipation is that we will vote on the public hearing at that time, and
then shortly thereafter we will make our written referral to the board of trustees,” said Kevin Weeks, the acting chair of the planning board, in place of chairperson John Rocco.

Weeks explained that the developer has been ready to present the amended application for almost one year. With a scheduled hearing forced to be canceled during March due to COVID-19, the proceeding meetings were postponed until now.