Woodmere Club DEIS accepted by Nassau County Planning Commission

Posted

Update May 14 at 5:15 p.m.

At a virtual Nassau County Planning Commission meeting, a revised Draft Environmental Impact Statement was unanimously accepted for the proposed Willow View Estates development at the Woodmere Club. 

An environmental impact statement details the physical and social impacts of the development on the area around the Woodmere Club, as well as its use of energy and its potential impact on climate change — a requirement that is part of the State Environmental Quality Review Act.  

Sean Sallie, the deputy commissioner of the Nassau County Department of Public Works, said the approval of the DEIS at the May 14 meeting opens a public comment period, which will stay open indefinitely. 

“SEQRA says that a public comment period for a DEIS is only supposed to last for 60 days,” Sallie said. “But with all that is happening with Covid-19, our staff has worked with the developers to extend the comment period beyond 60 days.”

Sallie added that a public hearing on the DEIS will be scheduled to take place no more than 60 days after the state government lifts or modifies social distancing protocols in a matter where public meetings can be held in-person. 

After the public comment period ends, Sallie said that the developers must then produce a final environmental impact statement. “The developer will need to address all the comments they received in the final EIS,” he said. “There is still a long way to go in the process.”

Developers Efrem Gerszberg and Robert Weiss bought the Woodmere Club three years ago for a little more than $9 million, and assumed the club’s nearly $15 million debt. They are planning to build 284 single-family homes on 114.5 of its 118 acres. They initially submitted a DEIS to the planning commission in September that needed to be revised. 

“We have agreed to grant the Nassau County Planning Board's request to provide more time for the public comment period beyond the legally prescribed time frame,” Gerszberg said.

Weiss acknowledged that there is still a tedious process that lies ahead for development. “The opening of the public comment period is the first step of a long process,” Weiss said. “We have produced an extensive report that has met all legal requirements.”

The Five Towns Civic Assocation, a group of residents strongly opposed to the development of the Woodmere Club, declined to comment on the approval of the Draft EIS and said they were not aware of the planning commission meeting.

Sallie said that the DEIS and a link for public comment will be on the planning commission’s website by early next week.