A detailed presentation of a proposed 197-unit apartment complex on Searing Avenue in Mineola was cut short last week as its public hearing was rescheduled for Nov. 4 due to a mailing issue. What was called a “discrepancy” in the Mineola Post Office, some surrounding businesses/homeowners within 400 feet of the proposed site were not alerted of the hearing, which is required by law.
Mill Creek Residential Trust reps still attended the Oct. 21 meeting of the Mineola Village Board to detail its plan to build on the Searing Avenue land, home of the defunct Corpus Christi School. They had agreed to attend the meeting for the public.
Plan architects discussed the project before being prompted to wait for the November hearing.
“We want to have the public at a hearing,” Mayor Scott Strauss said. “If we get too deep into the weeds here, we have to turn this into a hearing and we can’t because of the mailings. I don’t want the perception that we’re trying to do something without the rest of the public here.”
Mill Creek plans to construct two multi-story residential apartment buildings on the north and south side of Searing Avenue. The northern property would see two, four-story building connected by a unispan on a 38,500-square-foot lot, according to Mill Creek legal counsel rep Chris Coschignano of Shan, Ward Coshignano PLLC. The southern property that houses two residential buildings would be demolished to make way for three-story apartments and a management office for the complex.
“[The village attorney John Gibbons] permitted us to be here tonight to familiarize yourself with the [plan],” Coschignano said.
Architect Louis Giacalone of Ehasz Giacalone Architects began detailing renderings of the complex and discussed courtyards before Strauss said he’d have to repeat all this at the November hearing since no record was being taken.
The board has gone through our packages and we’re getting questions together,” Strauss said. “We’ll wait for the public hearing for our comments and questions.”
Mill Creek tapped VHB Engineering to head environmental and logistical studies of the proposed plan. The Hauppauge-based engineering firm represented Lalezarian Developers during the hearing of the 266-unit Village Green, which was approved in May and will stand at 199 2nd St. VHB Transportation Director Patrick Lenihan, Senior Project Manager Gail A. Pesner and Senior Technical Advisor Ginny Watral were at the meeting.
The Corpus Christi property was revealed as a prime location for apartment development in a study by New Jersey-based Phillips Preiss Grygiel LLC, commissioned by the village, earlier this year.
Bill Garry, a legal counsel rep for Corpus Christi, said last month the parish 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.”
