The Oyster Bay Town Board has approved an amendment to the Town's zoning code, which eliminates multi-family and townhouse uses in non-residence districts, according to Councilman Angelo A. Delligatti.

"When the town undertook a complete updating of its zoning code, multi-family and townhouse uses were listed as a special permit use under the 'NB' Neighborhood Business District, the 'CB' Central Business District and the 'GB' General Business District," Delligatti said. "After several applications were submitted, the town board began to see certain problems, particularly with regard to setbacks, which are less restrictive in business districts than in residential districts.

"To address the issues, last October, the town board approved a six-month moratorium on the issuance of site plan, special use permit and/or subdivision approvals for multi-family and townhouse developments in any non-residence district in the town," Delligatti said. "The purpose of the moratorium was to give the town time to conduct a study of current zoning and regulatory controls for multi-family and townhouse uses in non-residence districts and implement any appropriate recommendations stemming from the study.

"Based on the study, the town's planning consultant recommended that the list of permitted residential uses be amended to eliminate multi-family dwellings and townhouses as special permit uses in the 'NB', 'CB' and 'GB' Districts," the councilman continued. "That recommendation has now been adopted by the town board with the result being that multi-family dwellings and townhouses will be permitted only in certain residential districts, where they will have to comply with the more restrictive residential setbacks and other requirements."

Councilman Delligatti noted that two applications already submitted to the town - Fox Run Realty, LLC in Plainview, which was the subject of a public hearing on January 25, and Carriage Hill Associates, Inc. in Hicksville, which is still under review - will be governed by the zoning standards in existence at the time the applications were received by the town.