Planners Pan Mixed-Use Proposal

A rendering depicts the view of Gerard Street should a proposed four-story mixed use building with 84 luxury apartments be built in Huntington village.

Developers of a planned four-story, 271,836-square-foot mixed-use building with 84 luxury apartments have postponed a public hearing on their proposal after feedback from the Huntington Planning Board.

The hearing, originally slated for tonight before the Huntington Zoning Board of Appeals, was not rescheduled as of deadline Wednesday.

Property owner Alan Fromkin, reached Wednesday at his Classic Galleries business, deferred questions to his attorney, Huntington-based Jim Margolin.

Margolin said the postponement was requested after they received a June 6 memo signed by town planner Matthew Wieder that took issue with several portions of the plan.

“We adjourned it so that we can address certain comments,” Margolin said. “We just need to address it so we can clarify what we’re doing.”

The planning board, which criticized the plan’s scale, has requested more details on the project, including a clearer rendering, one that would show adjacent buildings on each side to ensure the proposal will not “adversely affect the character of the area,” states the memo, which was released to Long Islander News on Wednesday.

The board also wants a traffic circulation study to be done in addition to the submitted parking analysis because of the concentration of restaurants on Stewart Avenue, according to the memo.

The planning board has also expressed concerns with fire safety, including how access points of adjacent properties would be affected. It has also recommended that the zoning board make a positive declaration for SEQRA review.

“While the planning board is in favor of the concept of the proposal, they believe the scope of the project is too large, and think the proposal should be limited to no more than three stories,” the memo states.

Fromkin’s plan also calls for apartments on the first floor of the mixed-use building, which is not permitted by town code, according to town spokesman A.J. Carter.

The plan, originally reported on in the May 18 issue of The Long-Islander, calls for the four-story structure to be built across five plots Fromkin owns along Main and Gerard streets and Stewart Avenue.

Around 3,853 square feet of that building would be dedicated to Mac’s Steakhouse, the current building for which would be demolished, and another 11,620 square feet would be used for Classic Galleries, which currently operates at 243 Main St.

-JANO TANTONGCO