RXR Realty presented an amended plan for a 244-unit condominium complex in North Hills at a hearing last Wednesday night over the sharp objections of Long Island environmental activists.
Frank Haftel, RXR’s project manager, said the proposed changes to The Residence at North Hills project would be environmentally beneficial including the retention of 26 trees at one entrance to the 17-acres property on Powerhouse Road.
“RXR believes the project has been improved in many ways,” Haftel said at the hearing held at North Hill Village Hall.
Village of North Hills Mayor Marvin Natiss pointed out at the outset of the meeting that the village board had already granted approval for RXR to develop the property betwen Powerhouse Road and New Hyde Park in North Hills, and the board was only being asked to consider amendments to the plan.
“They can go tomorrow and build whatever they want,” Natiss said.
But environmentalists at the hearing objected to the condo complex in whatever form it might be built and called on the board to withdraw its approval of the plan.
“The over-arching intent we have is to stop the destruction of this forest,” said East Hills environmentalist Richard Brummel.
Brummel called the environmental impact statement issued in 2005 when the condo project was first considered to be “functionally obsolete.” He said the condition of the 40-acre Oak Tulip Grace Forest had changed since then and that eastern box turtles inhabiting the forest had been classified as a species of special concern in New York State.
“There’s no need for this thing to be built. There’s plenty of places for people to live,” said arborist Richard Oberlander. “There’s 100-year-old trees in there that are going to be cut down to make way for this.”
Mark Kinnucan, chairman of the Long Island chapter of the Sierra Club, said changes to the proposed condo complex are “material enough” to require another environmental impact study.
“The fact that the rest of the forest has been torn down makes the remaining forest more valuable,” Kinnucan said.
Natiss said the North Hills village board would consider the environmentalists’ call for a new environmental study.
Haftel said that among the other proposed changes to the project was the addition of a fifth floor to the development’s five condo buildings, which would be managed Ritz Carlton. He said that despite the additional floor the height of each building would remain unchanged at 60 feet. Each building, he said, would contain from 40 to 60 units, depending on the size of the units.
Haftel said RXR also plans to reduce the size of a proposed clubhouse to 18,000 square feet from 30,000 square feet by eliminating a floor of condo units above the clubhouse.
Louis Soloway, a lawyer representing RXR, said the complex would be constructed in two phases due to financing considerations, with two buildings to be built in the first phase along with the complex’s clubhouse. He also said RXR had eliminated plans for underground parking, making space for cars to be parked on the ground floor of each building.
Haftel said the parking garages would provide greater privacy for first floor residents of the buildings. He said a circular roadway in front of the five condo buildings would provide access for fire emergency vehicles.
He said all roads in the complex have been realigned to be consistent with county fire codes.
Engineer Steve Hyman of H2M said road widths in the complex would be widened to 26 feet from the 24 feet originally proposed for improved fire safety. He said the county fire marshal’s office had endorsed that aspect of the amended plan.
Hyman said elimination of the underground parking will enable “conventional sanitary sewer layout.” He said water mains on the grounds would be in easements in the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire District.
Soloway said there had been 18 meetings held to discuss the environmental impact of the RXR project in 2005 and 2006.
“The changes in the project are all for the better,“ said environmental planner Charles Voorhis, managing partner of Melville-based Nelson, Pope & Voorhis.
Voorhis said only “pockets” of Oak Tulip growth remains in the Grace Forest, which he said has been “degraded” by flooding.
“The forest is not regenerating and invasive species are now present,” Voorhis said. “I see no significant changes in the plan and negative changes in the environment.”
Voorhis said the condo development would have no adverse impact on the aquifer beneath it. He also said the state environmental act does not require protection for the eastern box turtle or the hognose snake, previously designated as a species of special concern. Protection of the two animals was cited as a cause for concern by the environmentalists.
Natiss said the village board may vote at its November meeting on the amended RXR plan. But the plan must first be reviewed by the county planning commission.
RXR Realty has made a payment of $21 million to the village for what Natiss called an “incentive” zoning plan when the North Hills board first approved the condo project in mid-November of 2006.
Haftel said RXR would seek some short-term rental units among the 124 units to be built in the first phase of the Ritz Carlton project.
“We continue to work with the mayor on a resolution that will allow the project to go forward. It’s necessary for the funding,” Haftel said
He said RXR also needs to have the rental units to receive a tax abatement on the development.
Natiss, who was originally opposed to any rental units, has said he now would like to see “a very limited number of units for rental.”
After Wednesday night’s hearing, he said the rental units are an issue to be addressed by the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency.
Natiss has said he also modified his position on whether to approve tax breaks provided by the IDA for the project. He had previously said he was adamantly opposed to RXR’s application for $4.6 million in property tax reductions from the IDA, saying that a residential development should not receive such tax benefits.
Existing annual property taxes on the property, are $415,170, according to RXR’s prior IDA application.
