On Tuesday night, July 11, the Village of Roslyn Board of Trustees held a special public meeting at the Bryant Library, one designed to discuss the recently completely Roslyn Landing Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS).

Roslyn Landing is the name for the development plan by B.I.T.I., a Jericho-based firm that hopes to build 80 rowhouse units on land in downtown Roslyn.

The purpose of the meeting was to let local residents express their opinions of the DEIS findings. Concerns over the plan focused on building heights, traffic, harbor vistas, and the impact the plan would have on the business district.

Much of the discussion centered around how the proposal corresponds with the goals of the village's master plan, which itself is now 10 years old.

For instance, Anthony Guardino, an attorney for the Roslyn Chamber of Commerce, said that his organization was not against rowhouse development, only the "density and scale" of the project. He claimed that the proposal was inconsistent with the master plan, both in the height of the buildings that would "diminish waterfront views" and in its rezoning proposals, which would allow several parcels to "encroach upon the business district.

"With the rowhouse proposal, the business district could not expand," Guardino said. "[The proposal] is inconsistent with the village code."

Norman Gerber, a planning consultant retained by the chamber, made the same arguments, adding that while there are 280 parking spaces in the proposal, only 180 are required. The conflicts concerning building heights, traffic, parking, and the integrity of the business districts, were, according to Gerber, "very serious, but very manageable." The village, he said, should focus on having "less units, less traffic, [and] the retention of the downtown business district."

More opposition to the current proposal came from Sylvia Dorsky, chairman of the Clocktower Party. She said the party's executive board unanimously voted to oppose any zoning changes in order to construct the rowhouses. Ms. Dorsky also said that both the Chamber of Commerce and the Roslyn Landmark Society have taken the position on the zoning question.

In addition, the Coalition to Save Hempstead Harbor has weighed in on the plan.

In a letter to the BOT, the coalition, among other arguments, stated their opposition thusly: "[The] project as proposed, with its abundance of impervious surface, does not protect the harbor, its natural features, or important vistas. Overall, the project does not achieve important goals of the Comprehensive Plan, including safeguarding 'the integrity and value of Roslyn's historic and scenic resources.' The Coalition fears that the project as proposed will foreclose the possibility of water-dependent uses for residents of the Village. There must be a more detailed analysis of the impacts of this project on the Village and critical environmental areas."

Finally, Michael Harkin briefly revisited his unsuccessful mayoral campaign of several years ago before claiming that a "substantial number of residents are opposed" to the housing plan.

For their part, BOT members said that they have not taken a position on the BITI proposal and will not until all the information has been received. There will be more public hearings on the matter and as Nolan Myerson related, the BITI plan must address all the tenets of the village's master plan.

In all, the village, according to Mayor Durkin, seeks a "civil debate" on the issue, adding that his body will "thoroughly, fairly [and] completely" review the proposal. In response to the presentation by Norman Gerber, Mayor Durkin did say that the BITI proposal would have less traffic volume than the long-ago defeated Stop & Shop supermarket plan.

Earlier opposition to the plan was articulated at the May meeting. Among those speaking at the meeting was Guy Frost, an architect and longtime Roslyn resident, whose concerns were echoed by several speakers at the Tuesday meeting.

Frost claimed that "Roslyn's natural connection to the [Hempstead] harbor and the village's history are both basic to its intrinsic character and sense of place."

He added that the B.I.T.I. proposal "encroaches on the commercial district with both its buildings and parking lots. Its design is inwardly focused and it literally turns its back to the rest of Roslyn."

More specifically, Frost said that the proposal creates a "solid visual barrier to downtown harbor views," that its "massive scale and heights overwhelm the historic downtown buildings," that it "leaves no space to improve adjacent business uses," and finally that it "makes no effort to relieve downtown traffic congestion."

Frost further noted that the plan "proposes to take full advantage of Waterfront Development Zone incentive bonuses for site improvements that are supposed to 'enhance the public's use of the waterfront.'" Instead, he added, "it appears that nearly all of the public amenities within the Wd-O district are necessarily in the developer's own interest and accrue primarily to the development itself."

"If the incentive bonus exchange for public amenities is allowed, the trustees must ensure that the benefits accrue to the residents of Roslyn and not solely to the development," Frost concluded.

In recent months, B.I.T.I. has made revisions to its rowhouse plan.

Last fall, B.I.T.I. personnel offered to build a large pond on the row house grounds, with a bridge crossing over the body of water.

More significantly, B.I.T.I. has scaled down the number of units it seeks to construct.

Originally, B.I.T.I. had hoped to construct 126 units on the downtown site. William Cohn, a principal for B.I.T.I. claimed that up to 160 units were possible for that stretch of land. Instead, B.I.T.I. has downsized its plan, reducing to 80 the number of row house units it hopes to build.

In turn, the board of trustees allowed that 80-unit plan to be used as the basis for an Environmental Impact Statement.