The Mineola Board of Trustees refrained again from casting a vote during Wednesday night’s second hearing on a proposed mixed-use apartment building at 100 Willis Ave., citing a need to see the results of a sewage and water capacity study and digest the developer’s amended plans.
“For me, the biggest determining factor will be the water and sewer study,” said Mayor Paul Pereira, referencing the study that will show whether the village’s sewage and water systems could support the new building. “Right now, for me, it’s premature, because I don’t have all the information yet.”
Developer Eden Blue LLC’s team returned to the board on Sept. 10 for the continuation of a July hearing, presenting a proposal with significant changes after receiving feedback from all board members. The board previously stated that the first proposal was too large, did not align with the village’s aesthetic and may cause an increase in traffic congestion.
The proposed building is now five stories, not six, and the proposed height is reduced from 69 feet to 59 feet, said Eden Blue’s attorney Jack Martins and architect Emilio Susa. The pair said there will now be 200 units – down from 204 – with 54 studios, 128 one-bedroom and 18 two-bedroom units.
There will also be two levels of underground parking, where the prior proposal called for one. As opposed to aluminum panels, the building is now primarily made of brick and uses softer colors.
The proposal still includes a first floor of retail space, 30 parking spaces dedicated to the village and a partnership with the Mineola Athletic Association and Little League fields, which the building sits adjacent to.
Martins said the developer was working with the athletic association to build offices for them on the first floor, install public bathrooms, renovate field seating and create a concession stand, emphasizing the intent to make the building feel like part of the community.
Pereira said he was glad the developer had reduced the size, but personally wished there were fewer units. He said he did not know if the board would make further requests for changes from the developer, citing a need to “digest” the information presented.
Despite that and the outstanding water capacity study, the new, smaller proposal was much more warmly received by the board on Wednesday night than the initial July one.
“I thank you for coming back to us with a new vision,” Deputy Mayor Janine Sartori said. “You heard us, and you reduced the size of the building. You changed the aesthetics of the building. This is really a unique opportunity for us to highlight our community because it is on the [Mineola Athletic Association] fields…I think it’s just a really perfect spot, and it’s definitely more consistent with what’s going on in that area now.”
Sartori’s sentiment was echoed by all other board members except Trustee Paul Cusato, who voiced strong opposition to the building’s size and maintained that, despite the developer’s traffic studies showing otherwise, the apartment would increase congestion in the area.
Martins said the traffic study did not suggest there was no traffic in the area, but that this development wouldn’t worsen the already congested conditions.
“The most beautiful and least impactful way a lot can be developed, historically, has always been residential. Always,” Martins said. “It is the least impactful way, from a traffic standpoint, to develop a piece of property. If this building were to be developed as an office building, the impacts to the community would be significantly harsher.”
Martins also argued that 100 Willis Ave. was the most sensible place for a mixed-use apartment building in Mineola due to its proximity to other apartment complexes, slight removal from the single-family portion of the village and the first-floor retail stores and restaurants it would bring to a portion of the village that currently does not have as many commercial businesses.
Trustees agreed, with Trustee Jeffery Clark and others saying an apartment building was the most appropriate use for the piece of land.
“I don’t know what else you would do with that piece of property,” Clark said. “To put a strip mall there would not work…I think this is probably a well-thought-out, good design for that piece of property, and will bring some life back to that area.”
Cusato said he did not object to an apartment being built in the lot, but still strongly felt it should be smaller.
But winning over approval from village residents was not resounding, as roughly half a dozen residents spoke against it Wednesday night.
“There should be a moratorium to stop building large buildings,” resident Kathy Novack said. “Mineola is becoming like Queens with its congestion, pollution and crime. Mineola needs to maintain the quality of life that we’ve worked hard for. Stop this building…Keep Mineola a suburb.”
While residents who work with the Mineola Athletic Association expressed support for the building, others echoed Novak’s sentiment, saying the development would make the village look like Queens, increase traffic congestion in the area and overcrowd the neighborhood.
Some expressed frustration with the board, saying they believed the decision to approve the development was already a “done deal” and that there was “no limit” to how many apartment buildings the board would approve, referencing One Third Avenue, The Allure and the Royal Blue on Searingtown Avenue, also from the Eden Blue developer.
Pereira vehemently denied those claims, saying that nothing is ever decided before it comes before the public. He said the board still hadn’t come to a conclusion about this proposal, emphasizing a need for information from the sewage and water capacity study.
“There are lots of limits,” Pereira said. “In my mind, there is a finite amount of space to do anything like this, and we’re getting very, very, very close to that limit. This [water] study will probably tell us what that finite amount is.”
He emphasized the benefits of buildings like this proposal and other recent developments to the village’s tax base.
“These developments have enabled us to make big capital improvements without raising taxes,” Pereira said.
He cited planned renovations to Wilson Park, the amphitheater in Memorial Park, the purchase of a new fire truck, pedestrian-friendly streets and costly road reconstruction on streets in poor condition as village benefits from the increased tax revenue.
Pereira also tried to alleviate resident concerns about overcrowding and traffic with historical data on the village, citing U.S. Census data that showed the number of people living in Mineola in the 1970s and 2020s as nearly equal and decreasing high school graduating class sizes, demonstrating that the village was not experiencing extraordinary population growth.
“I do want to put this application in context, especially in reference to traffic,” Pereira said.
He added that the area surrounding the proposed apartment complex previously housed a factory, office and commercial buildings, a surgical center and the Corpus Christi School, all of which he said produced much more traffic than an apartment building would.
“Residential use is not as intensive as office space, lawyers’ offices, doctors’ offices, retail use, etc., when it comes to traffic,” Pereira said. “So yes, there will be traffic, but that traffic was there when there was a surgical center there, that traffic was there when there was a manufacturing use on Second Street, when there was a school.”
Though the developer’s team urged the board to approve the project on Wednesday night, the mayor declined to call a vote. The board backed this decision.
“I appreciate the fact that we’re not voting on this tonight, because I think the whole board needs to digest a lot of the changes that were made,” Sartori said. “We appreciate the changes made, but it still is a project that we need to think through.”
Pereira said the board will reopen the hearing at its Oct. 15 meeting after it has had time to further comprehend the information presented, decide if additional changes or size reductions are needed, await the completion of the water capacity study and iron out the relationship between the building and the Mineola Athletic Association.
He said there is no guarantee that the board will vote on the building in October.
