Residents Get Second Chance to Comment on Smithtown Apartment Plan

Plans to demolish a Smithtown Main Street eyesore to construct a mixed-use retail and apartment complex will come under public scrutiny on Tuesday night. 

Smithtown Board of Zoning Appeals will host a public hearing on a special exception permit request to construct Downtown on Main, a proposed project to replace the former Nassau Suffolk Lumber Yard in Smithtown. 

North Fork Management & Maintenance has requested eight variances from the Town of Smithtown build 53 accessory apartments, retail and office space on the site of the former Nassau Suffolk Lumber Yard. 

The developer is looking to divide the property off West Main Street to construct two buildings: one 30 feet off of West Main Street that would be used for retail space on the first floor and apartments on the second and third floors; another building in the rear of the property between Planned Parenthood and the Assessor's Office that would be used for small offices and apartments.

Among the variances the developer has requested include increasing the maximum building height from 35 feet to 49 feet, up to a four-story building; reducing the parking setback from 6 feet to 2 feet; and a permit for apartments to be located on the first floor. 

The former lumberyard building was condemned in the beginning of October 2012 after the town deemed it unsafe. 

The lumberyard was partially demolished in October 2009 allegedly for a $40,000 tax break without proper permits from the town. A Suffolk grand jury report released Feb. 7 found that town officials unlawfully pressured a landowner into demolishing a property, even after a stoppage in demolition was issued.

However, Smithtown Board of Ethics released a 42-page report in April 2013 that it" did not find sufficient evidence to conclude that any town employee committed a violation of the Smithtown Code of Ethics" in the illegal demolition of the asbestos-laced Nassau Suffolk Lumber and Supply Company in 2009.

The Smithtown BZA meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Eugene A. Cannataro Senior Citizen Center, 420 Middle Country Road, Smithtown.