The Village of North Hills Planning Board voted 3-2 on Aug. 12 in favor of approving variances for a proposed subdivision on I.U. Willets Road despite the opposition of residents from residents of Acorns Ponds.
Planning Board Chairman David E. Kass and board member Leslie Nizin cast the lone votes against variances for a cul-de-sac roadway longer than 500 feet and a right-of-way longer than 46 feet wide, but both men said they supported the application by NY Excelsior Realty Corp. moving forward.
Their no votes, they said, were based on proposed modifications to the application that they thought were unnecessary.
“After six public hearings with the chairman, there’s nothing else we can say about this application,” said Bruce Migatz, NY Excelsior Realty Corp.’s attorney with the Garden City firm Albanese & Albanese LLP. “We have addressed every concern.”
The application to subdivide the 2.81 acre property to build four homes will now move to the Village of North Hills Board of Trustees.
During a public hearing, residents from the nearby Acorn Ponds development said they were concerned about their neighborhood potentially flooding during storms due to runoff from the development, which is known as Excelsior Court.
“We would like to be here tonight to hear tonight what you the planning board members, appointed by our elected officials plan to do to ensure that the quality of life of over 500 voting residents is not affected,” Condo 1 board member Richard Roth said.
Roth cited a study conducted by the Nelson & Pope engineering firm and commissioned by Acorn Ponds in 2012 to find solutions to its own water runoff issues.
Gary Becker, an engineer with Nelson & Pope, said both developments were in a 700-acre watershed near the Shelter Rock Road exit of the Northern State Parkway that is already prone to flooding.
“Any overflow from Excelsior Court to Acorn Ponds could have an adverse impact on Acorn Ponds,” Becker said.
Becker cited a 2012 study conducted by the state Department of Transportation that said the watershed where both developments are located on is prone to flooding.
He said water draining water from a basin at the corner of Shelter Rock Road and the Northern State Parkway goes through a 24-inch overflow pipe connected to the county drainage system.
Becker compared the system to “trying to drain an Olympic-sized swimming pool through a straw.”
Excelsior Realty officials had proposed the use of a five-inch draining pipe to remove storm water off the site of the proposed development, which Becker said would be overwhelmed by particularly strong storms.
In its approval, the planning board required Excelsior use an eight-inch draining pipe, build interconnections for dry wells and provide backflow protection.
Residents also expressed concern with the removal of trees and traffic congestion that they said the development would create.
Andrea Somma, whose house would be located adjacent to the development, said she obtained a copy of the planting schedule from the village that showed plans for trees near hear property to be removed so a 30-foot-long sign would be installed two feet away from her property line.
“I certainly don’t want a billboard in my backyard,” she said.
Somma also showed concern with the environmental impacts the proposed developments would have.
“What will be the legacy of this board?” Somma asked. “With the development on Searingtown Road, the Ritz-Carlton, the corner of Shelter Rock Road and I.U. Willets Road, which is some sort of subdivision, we’re having nothing left. We have nothing to look at outside our window.”
Her criticism prompted board member Janet De Winter to include a provision calling for the display sign to be removed, which was also approved by the board.
Acorn Ponds resident Chris Frangopoulos said he surveyed the area where a proposed road and cul-de-sac, which Excelsior had requested variances for, is takes up too much space.
“With the proposed road being 26 feet wide, that does not leave any room for green space between our properties and the road,” Frangopoulos said. “We will have a road in our backyard.”
In other developments:
• The planning board voted to adjourn its public hearing on the Manhasset Bay Group’s plans for the former St. Ignatius Retreat House until Sept. 9 and gave the applicant the approval to submit an updated designs and move onto the subdivision stage of its application.
If the designs submitted by Aug. 31, they will be considered at the next meeting.
• The board also set its November meeting to the 4th, as it was initially scheduled to take place on Veterans Day.
