No resolution has yet been reached on whether to grant Forest City Daly permission to alter the size of their proposed senior housing facility, Bryant Landing, one slated for construction in downtown Roslyn.

Last Tuesday night, the Village of Roslyn board of trustees heard presentations by Forest City Daly executives, plus comments from local residents as it considered amendments to the project's site plan, including those for site usage and a Development Incentive Bonus. Forest City Daly's Final Site Plan Approval would also have to be amended. The BOT will take up the matter once again at its Tuesday, Dec. 16 public meeting.

In short, Forest City Daly hopes to cut down the size of the facility from three to two buildings. The company would also like to reduce the total number of units from 250 to 210. In addition, Forest City seeks to alter the nature of Bryant Landing by changing 90 units of assisted living to 50 apartments for people 55 years and older. The company has brought aboard two new financial partners to assist with the financing of the project. Still, Forest City officials assured the BOT that their firm would be managing the properties once they are built.

The discussion at the Bryant Library focused on familiar themes of traffic volume. In response to questions from the BOT, an engineer for Forest City Daly said that they estimate 15-20 visits a day to the facility, with that number increasing to 30-40 visits during certain holiday periods.

Michael Daly, the company's president, said the ages of residents will be 55 years and older for both buildings. He also said that the company does not anticipate a further drawing down of its construction plans, namely constructing only one building. The two buildings will be constructed simultaneously, Daly said and the company hopes to finish building both at the same time.

While assessing the new realities of the revised plan, Forest City Daly officials said they don't anticipate more traffic than what the original plan projected. An engineer for the company even said that based upon growth projections for the area, there would, in the coming years, be "a little bit less" traffic under the new plan. Still, the engineer suggested some roadway suggestions to the BOT, including modifying traffic signal lights and adding some left turn signal lanes, changes he said would not be "extraordinary" in nature.

At the meeting, BOT members had more questions concerning traffic conditions under the proposed changes in the facility.

Trustee Marta Genovese noted the change in age of residents in the smaller unit, namely the fact that some of them could be as "young" as 55, which means they will still be working at day jobs and driving more than most retirees. Plus, even if residents did not work, they would still have to drive to local shops and stores.

"Just adding 50 people for services everyday is a problem," Ms. Genovese said, adding that Forest City's traffic studies might be "out of touch with the realities of day to day life" in the village.

Both a trustee with the Village of Roslyn Harbor and a spokesman for the Hempstead Harbor Protection Committee also spoke at the meeting, with the trustee also expressing the same traffic concerns voiced by Roslyn officials.

At an earlier village meeting, Forest City officials said the result of such alterations to the original plan would be a decrease in the square footage of Bryant Landing by 1,000 ft. Such changes would also decrease the environmental impact on the village-namely, traffic flow in the downtown area. Because of that, Michael Daly said he thought the alterations would be "good news" for the village. At the Dec. 2 meeting, Daly also reiterated that the new plan for Roslyn has a similar model, namely the Forest City facility in Rye Brook, a village in Westchester County.

Earlier this year, Daly expressed hope for a groundbreaking on the project in January. Whenever groundbreaking does take place, the first piece of work will be the restoration of a waterfront access park. That project could be completed by the spring of 2004. Daly has said that it should take a good 24 months to complete the entire project.

The exterior features of the facility will include a major walkway, one connecting the buildings to the waterfront along Hempstead Harbor and to Old Northern Boulevard. Also planned are a four-acre park, natural springs, and three freshwater ponds, themselves to be used for both blue fishing and bass fishing opportunities. The indoor space will include a library, a movie theater, a store and a café, and an arts and crafts room for the residents.