A set of high-rise buildings at the site of the Millbrook Court apartments by Middle Neck Road and Clover Drive was pitched to Great Neck village trustees Tuesday night. The buildings would be located near a site where 11 homes have been proposed.
The site plan calls for a four-story 58-unit apartment building on the north, a four-story 28-unit apartment building to the south and a three-story 14-unit building to the west. Each of the buildings would feature below-grade parking.
Some two-story brick apartment buildings would be demolished to make room for the new buildings, site plans suggest, which would get rid of 33 apartment units from the site’s current 119 units.
There would be a net gain of 67 apartments.
Mayor Pedram Bral said on Wednesday that this was an early presentation to get “some familiarity with the idea” and that there were no discussions regarding the character of the building.
Bral said sewer capacity and traffic could be significant concerns, but he found the inclusion of a “significant amount of parking” with the lower-level parking garages a positive thing.
“We’re not going to make any decisions until we have the recommendations from VHB,” Mayor Pedram Bral said, referring to the village’s consulting company studying the development of a corridor on Middle Neck Road.
A table beside the site plan suggests the area has been eyed since at least 2015.
This proposal is separate from the nearby proposed Clover Drive development, which seeks to build 11 homes on roughly three acres of land bordering the villages of Great Neck and Great Neck Estates.
Ten of those homes would be in Great Neck, while the other would be in Great Neck Estates, and an access road for emergency vehicles would be required.
Residents have raised safety concerns in the past, suggesting the development could worsen driving visibility along Clover Drive from the increased traffic, make the area more sensitive to flooding and have an access road too narrow for trucks making turns.
Great Neck trustees approved the subdivision for that proposal in May 2014 following years of proceedings, although the approval process did not conclude there until 2016. An application was then filed in Great Neck Estates in October 2016.
Great Neck Estates trustees held their last public meeting on the matter on Jan. 8, but said they intend to keep the record open until their next meeting in February.
Great Neck Estates village Administrator Kathleen Santelli said the proposed Millbrook Apartments would be “pretty close,” but it’s not something village officials have any say on.
“It isn’t something that involves us because it’s not in our village,” Santelli said.
