UPDATE: Oct. 14 at 6:30 p.m.
The Oct. 21 public hearing on Mill Creek Residential Trust’s plan to to build a 197-unit apartment complex on the north and south side of Searing Avenue in Mineola has been postponed to Wednesday, Nov. 4. Mayor Scott Strauss said Wednesday there was a mailing notification issue (applicants must notify area addresses within a 400 feet radius of the proposal by a certain date), but Mill Creek reps will still attend next week’s hearing date.
“They will be down their next Wednesday to introduce themselves and d do a couple things, but there will not be a hearing,” Strauss said. “If everyone planned on attending that hearing, please adjust your calendars.”
The original hearing on the apartment Goliath’s proposal is the focusing on the site of vacant property owned by Corpus Christi Parish. While reps will be at Village Hall next week, the plan will not be officially presented.
“We need to hear [from the public] and see how it plays out,” Mayor Strauss said last week.
Strauss said last week the south portion of the proposed project would house four stories on the Searing Avenue side of Willis Avenue at 73-feet high if approved. The rear, closest to the Mineola Athletic Association field would stand three stories at 51.5 feet tall. Both would house parking lots, according to Strauss.
“It’s on a dead end street,” Strauss said of the location. “It’s similar to the buildings north of it and would certainly be an enhancement to the property if approved.”
The 266-unit Village Green apartment complex hearings were the scene of standing-room only crowds earlier this year preceding its approval in May. Officials expect more of the same.
“I hope [the crowds come],” Strauss said of the crowds that come with apartment hearings. “The five of us on the dais don’t have all the answers. We need our fellow neighbors to come out and voice their opinion one way or another.”
The Corpus Christi property was named in a report by New Jersey-based Phillips Preiss Grygiel LLC, commissioned by the village, earlier this year as a potential dwelling spot. The report said 1,460 apartments could hit Mineola within the next few years.
Mill Creek is also possibly seeking two, single-family homes on Harrison Avenue, adjacent to the Oyster Bay line of the Long Island Rail Road for a 21-unit building as part of the project, according to officials. Mill Creek did not return calls for comment.
Bill Garry, a legal counsel rep for Corpus Christi, said last month the parish has agreed to sell the property to Mill Creek if the developer’s plan is approved by the village board. Garry stated the sale “will allow the parish to continue pastoral services, to ensure that there are sufficient funds going forward.”
Corpus Christi would retain the western part of the building, which includes a gym and classrooms. The two are separated by an above-ground unispan.
According to village Building Superintendent Dan Whalen, Mill Creek is seeking a temporary certificate of occupancy for an additional parking level at its $93 million, 275-unit Old Country Road complex dubbed Modera Mineola. Mill Creek announced in August it leased 40 percent of the building.
“The primaries on the project and the owners have advised me that they expect to have the rest of it complete by the end of this month,” Whalen said.
