AvalonBay presented new designs for its proposed apartment complex at an East Shore Road environmental contamination site at Tuesday’s meeting of the Village of Great Neck Board of Trustees, and announced that it will be seeking a change in zoning to accommodate the project.
The company touted its record of similar projects, financial strength, amenities and experience with environmental cleanups, but faced criticism from a union representative who listed safety and wage violations by AvalonBay contractors and called the firm an “irresponsible developer.”
AvalonBay Senior Vice President of Development Matt Whelan described the company’s plan as a way to revitalize the contaminated waterfront site, which currently holds six oil storage tanks and lies in a state of disuse. Whelan said AvalonBay would work with the DEC and the site’s owners to remediate the contamination at no cost to taxpayers, and build a 191-unit complex with a pool, fitness center, courtyards and other amenities, targeted at young professionals and older couples whose children had left home.
“We like to think that we’ve been a vital part of communities here on the island,” Whelan said, citing the group’s similar developments in Garden City, Rockville Center, Glen Cove and other Nassau municipalities.
But Ben Bennett, a representative of SEIU Local 32BJ – a union which represents workers at some AvalonBay sites – said the Occupational Health and Safety Administration had found more than 180 serious violations at AvalonBay construction sites over the last 10 years.
Bennett cited the falling death of a worker at a Massachusetts AvalonBay project and a 2012 fire at a Garden City AvalonBay facility, which police said was accidentally started by a worker, according to News12 Long Island.
“AvalonBay is not the kind of developer I would want coming in to my town,” Bennett said.
Bennett also accused AvalonBay of hiring contractors who pay workers below the prevailing wage, saying that the company does not have a track record of creating good jobs.
Whelan said he was proud of AvalonBay’s safety record and that his company’s record was in line with or better than comparable developers.
“I’ll put our safety record up against any large builder’s,” Whelan said.
An AvalonBay spokesperson wrote in an email that the company mandates OSHA training for its associates, cooperates with OSHA and requires its subcontractors to follow local wage laws.
“SEIU has been attempting, without success, to influence AvalonBay’s associates and contractors,” wrote the spokesperson. “The SEIU organizers’ distortion of AvalonBay’s fire safety record at the Village of Great Neck’s Board meeting last evening, which was replete with factual errors and makes no pretense to objectivity, is just another example of this effort.”
SEIU Local 32BJ will continue its campaign against AvalonBay’s development of the site throughout the approval process, Bennett said.
The company’s presentation highlighted amenities including landscaped courtyards, a heated pool, and controlled access garages. The company would work within DEC-mandated setbacks
to beautify and enhance the site, development director Chris Capece said.
“It’s a constrained site and we need to make sure the amenities we have are punchy and high quality,” Capece said.
Whelan said the firm was excited about its design, which will include affordable housing in accordance with state and village codes.
“We are a long term owner and operator. We’re proud of our record, we’re proud of our reputation,” Whelan said.
In response to a question from Village of Great Neck Mayor Ralph Kreitzman, Whelan said the company would be seeking a payment in leiu of taxes agreement from the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency, which would lower the company’s tax burden for an set number of years. Whelan said such agreements had become commonplace for builders of residential complexes and that the village would not receive less in taxes than it currently does from the undeveloped property.
“As part of what we’re proposing we’re planning on following the very common route of going through IDA benefits,” Whelan said.
The plan will be subject to public hearings prior to any decision by the board, Kreitzman said.
The board also approved a conditional-use permit for a proposed hookah lounge on Middle Neck Road, with representatives saying patrons would use a tobacco-free fruit product to smoke up in order to conform to code.
The lounge, which would be open until midnight Sunday through Thursday, closed on Friday and open from sunset until 2 a.m. on Saturday, would be a quiet location, said the project’s representative, where patrons could gather and talk in small groups.
The board approved the special-use permit with a number of stipulations, including options for the board to require security or valet parking if the site becomes busy and requirements that noise not be audible outside the building.
