Public Hears More Details About Proposed Upper Port Apartment Complex

A proposal by a developer to build a multi-family apartment building on a piece of property in Upper Port Jefferson in front of the Planning Department on Thursday night at .

The builder originally proposed to put up a four-story, 87-unit apartment complex consisting of 12-two bedroom units and 18-one bedroom units at Texaco Avenue and Linden Place. The site comes under the purview of by the village for the area.

Eric Russo, the attorney for the developer, Rail Realty, LLC, and Eric Nicosia, the building’s architect presented the plans, revised from those presented on April 19 to the village Planning Department (PDF).

The apartment complex is now proposed to be a 35-foot high, three-story building with 55 units. Those units break down to 45-one bedroom units, four-two bedroom units and six-studio apartments.

Residents at the meeting expressed concern that the multi-family apartment complex was going to represent another attempt to install workforce-type housing on a site in the area. Recently, residents of came out against the proposed development of the shuttered Ramp Chevrolet auto dealership on Route 112 in Port Jefferson Station into . The burden on the school district and lack of employment opportunities for residents in the so-called workforce housing complex were reasons given by residents who opposed the project.

Similarly, the proposed apartment complex in Upper Port Jefferson will be in the Comsewogue School District, even though the property is in the village of Port Jefferson.

Developers tried to allay the fears of residents who opposed low income or government subsidized housing being built in the area at a time when the village is trying hard to orchestrate a revitalization.

Representatives for the builder said the apartments are going to be marketed to professionals like Stony Brook University professors, graduate students and medical personnel from St. Charles and Mather hospitals.

Initially, the developers left the school district off the list of agencies to notify about the project but said that it has now been added. They also claim that the smaller size of the apartment complex from its original April proposal and the target market of young professionals will result in fewer children living in the building.

There will be a total of 83 parking spaces with 54 underneath the apartment building and the rest on the south side of Linden Place on the northern side of the building. The developers say this meets village code of 1.5 spaces per one bedroom apartment.

Residents also expressed concern about overcrowding in the units. After the meeting, the developers said that have very strict rules in their leases about the number of people allowed in each apartment depending on its size and that non-compliance results in eviction.

A meeting with the village Zoning Board is set for July 26. The developers said no new date is set to go before the Planning Board again but they will post a new notice when one is scheduled.

Groundbreaking on the apartment complex could occur as early as the first half of 2013.

Additional reporting on this story was done by Mary Lehrer.

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