County Planning Commission rejects Roosevelt Ave. apartment proposal

Project needs village BZA 'supermajority' for approval

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This is the second time an apartment complex for the corner of Roosevelt Avenue and Cochran Place from Kay Development has come before the village Board of Zoning Appeals.
This is the second time an apartment complex for the corner of Roosevelt Avenue and Cochran Place from Kay Development has come before the village Board of Zoning Appeals.
Courtesy Kay Development Group

On June 20, the Nassau County Planning Commission rejected a three-story, 18-unit apartment complex proposed for the corner of Roosevelt Avenue and Cochran Place. The decision means the Valley Stream Board of Zoning Appeals would need a “supermajority” — four of the board’s five members — to approve the project, according to state General Municipal Law.

The proposal is similar to the one submitted to county and village agencies last November, with key differences intended to reduce the number of zoning variances required for approval. The case is set to go before the BZA on July 2.

In its decision, the commission cited a lack of an affordable housing component for the project, as well as a density that is roughly double the village code for a plot of land that size and a 50 percent shortfall in required parking spaces.

County planner Martin Katz told the commission that the proposal was nearly identical to the one brought to the agency last November. In that in-stance, the commission requested more information from the developer — New York City-based Kay Development Group — about the inclusion of affordable housing in the plans, which is required under the Long Island Workforce Housing Act for a project of that scale.

“The project representative I spoke with had no intention to provide affordable units,” Katz said. “Staff recommends denial for second submission with no affordable housing component set aside pursuant to the provisions of the Long Island Workforce Housing Act.”

Speaking to the Herald, Kay principal and founder Vassilios Kefalas, a longtime Valley Stream resident, countered that his latest proposal differed from his original in several ways, and that he had no plans to include affordable housing.

“We’re not going to do any affordable housing,” he said. “We want young professionals and empty-nesters. We don’t want to do any workforce housing.”

The changes made to the updated proposal include reducing lot coverage from around 44 percent to 42 percent, reduced building size to allow for a compliant front-yard setback, a change to the parking layout to remove corner-sight obstructions and a fenced-in play area to reduce the variances sought for the project to seven. Additionally, Kefalas said that the need for two further variances could be eliminated through a reinterpretation of what constitutes the front and side of the property.

Last November, the village BZA was set to hear the case for the original proposed development, which was seeking 10 variances — including lot coverage, driveway placement, parking and front and rear-yard setbacks — but the application was pulled hours before it was to be heard. Kefalas cited opposition from School District 24 over worries of overcrowding as the reason for the withdrawal.

“I decided, rather than go ahead, to remove the application so I get a chance to meet with the school district,” he said.

The nearly 15,000-square-foot plot of land currently houses a privately run parking lot owned by Valley Stream-based Valley Parking Inc. The company paid nearly $19,000 in school taxes and roughly $2,000 in village taxes on the property for 2018, according to village and county tax rolls.

Kefalas said he had offered building a preschool facility for District 24 on the lot, but was unable to do so because of insufficient space mandated for such a facility by the State Education Department.

Now he is returning with the modified proposal for apartments that includes five one-bedroom, 12 two-bedroom and one studio unit, with 19 parking spaces. According to the Affordable Housing Act, projects including more than five housing units are required to have an affordable or workforce housing component.

Kay has worked on a handful of other projects in the village, most notably the six-story, 43-unit Promenade apartment building on North Central Avenue. The project is slated for completion in about a month.

“If we get denied at the end, we won’t do it,” Kefalas said, maintaining that the land would be better served under his proposal than if it remained as is.

“We want to build a nice building,” he said. “I hope they like it, and I hope it’s good.”