Oyster Bay Cove residents rallied on Jan. 27 against a 28-unit workforce housing proposal on Sandy Hill Road. The property owner, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, has developed plans to turn the single-family home into an apartment complex for its employees.
“Oyster Bay Cove is not equipped to deal with such a big influx of individuals moving in,” said Evelyn Ains, a member of Save Oyster Bay Cove, a resident group combatting the proposal. Ains has lived in Oyster Bay Cove for 20 years.
The site proposal would completely gut the inside of the house, creating 28 units for laboratory employees with a bedroom, bathroom and kitchenette, residents said. Residents said village officials “blindsided” them and did not properly notify them about the site’s development plans until after the fact.
“Some very close personal relationships must be occurring at the sacrifice of us,” said resident Steven Ravins, a member of Save Oyster Bay Cove. Ravins has been a village resident for 18 years and lives on the same street as the proposed apartment complex.
The 11-acre plot was the site of dormitories for Harmony Heights School, which until it closed in 2023 housed 30 female secondary students with social and emotional needs. Ains said the students were taken to and from school in the mornings and afternoons in a mini-bus.
Ains said Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory plans to run full-sized buses from the building to its facilities every hour and on demand.
Residents at the rally said the proposed apartment building would house adults in the workforce, creating increased traffic congestion during rush hour. Traffic at off-peak times would also increase due to errands, Amazon deliveries, and Uber Eats orders, they said.
“These are adults, not children,” said Ravins.
In a letter from the Village of Oyster Bay Cove, Mayor Charles Goulding said apartment residents will not live with spouses or residents in the building. Ains said the village has no way to enforce that.
Ains said the village does not have the infrastructure to handle a site like the one the laboratory is proposing. Oyster Bay Cove has single-family homes, while neighboring areas like Woodbury or Syosset have the proper zoning for an apartment building, she said.
On top of resident concerns regarding traffic, infrastructure and zoning, Ains and Ravins said the village officials were secretive about the site’s plans. Ains said the village had not properly notified them of the changes and that the board was “done secretively.” She said the residents found out about the laboratory’s property purchase a year after the fact.
Ravins said that when similar issues had occurred in the village in the past, the officials were proactive about providing residents with information through notices and letters, even knocking on residents’ doors.
She said there were meetings about the proposal, but residents were unaware of them. He said the meetings occurred at 10 a.m., a time when most residents could not attend due to work.
Ravins said the village changed the zoning ordinance to allow developments on any site over 11 acres. Due to this change, the Sandy Hill Road property did not require a special use permit, which is why the village was not required to send out a notice about the site, he said.
“The only property that was viable at the time— that was even eligible for the zoning code change to be enacted was this one property,” he said.
Goulding wrote to the community that the laboratory must obtain a special use permit from the zoning board. He said an application was filed and an initial hearing was held in October. The laboratory has revised and resubmitted its plans and a public hearing will be held, Goulding said.
“Neither I nor my fellow trustees have any influence over the application that is currently before the Zoning Board of Appeals,” he wrote. “The Zoning Board of Appeals is an independent board and the decision to issue the Special Use Permit is theirs and theirs alone.”
Residents said they are concerned that the zoning changes pertaining to lots over 11 acres will be used in the future to further develop the village.
“It’s setting up a very, very bad precedent,” Ains said.
For more information, visit save-oyster-bay.com
