Plandome Heights Planning Board approves Summit Drive subdivision 3-2

Amelia Camurati
Plandome Heights planning board members Elaine Canton, left, and Roxanne Fitzig both voted against subdividing the 109 Summit Drive property on Tuesday. (Photo by Amelia Camurati)

After four months of public hearings, the Plandome Heights Planning Board voted 3-2 on Tuesday to approve a two-lot subdivision for 109 Summit Drive.

Chairman James Madison and new members Marijan Bernic and Eric Carlson voted in favor of the subdivision, while Elaine Canton and Roxanne Fitzig voted against it.

In the six-minute meeting, Madison thanked the board, which before this application had not met since 2014.

“Your dedication to this issue has been fantastic,” Madison said. “It’s been a long process.”

After the meeting, Canton said her no vote was because of the approximately 20-foot slope from the backyard of the 109 Summit Drive property to the Bay Driveway home behind it.

“I was floored when I saw it, and I think that’s a variable,” Canton said after the meeting. “I’m not questioning how competent the village engineer is or even the builder’s engineers. I just think when you’re that close to mother nature, it’s a variable, and it’s a potentially danger and expensive problem down the road.”

Throughout the public hearings, neighboring residents have spoken in favor of the subdivision and against it, citing drainage concerns both during construction and once two new homes are built on the property.

No plans for the homes have been approved by the village.

The 16-page approval decision for the subdivision drafted by village Attorney Christopher Prior includes 10 conditions for developer and owner Evan Psyllos of Flower Hill.

Conditions include that all development on both lots must meet Nassau County’s on-site storm water retention rate of 8 inches of rainfall, both homes must be on the flat portion of the property, neither home may exceed 4,800 square feet or a building footprint of 2,500 square feet and Psyllos must apply to the Planning Board for final subdivision and partitioning approval at a later date.

After the meeting, Fitzig said her concerns stemmed from the lack of space on Summit Drive and inability to add circular driveways to the two new lots because neither is wide enough to support one by village code.

“It will affect the community,” Fitzig said. “I feel those houses should have circular driveways, which they cannot do. This street is so narrow.”

Reach reporter Amelia Camurati by email at acamurati@theislandnow.com, by phone at 516-307-1045, ext. 215, or follow her on Twitter @acamurati.

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