Developer Plans 64-Bed Assisted Living Facility

A developer plans to construct a 64-bed assisted living facility on this site at the corner of Woodbury Road and East Gate Drive in Cold Spring Harbor, where there’s currently an unused tennis club. (Long Islander News photo/Connor)

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

A developer’s plans to construct a 64-bed assisted living facility on the corner of Woodbury Road and East Gate Drive in Cold Spring Harbor will require approval of a zone change by the town board in order to move forward.

The board scheduled last month a public hearing on the zone change application, which was submitted by Virginia-based Artis Senior Living. The developer is seeking the R-20 to R-HS zone change for the 3.96-acre property.

R-HS zoning allows for the construction of congregate-care, assisted-living, nursing home and life-care communities. Artis Senior Living currently operates 17 senior living communities across nine states.

The proposed site of the assisted living facility currently houses several abandoned tennis courts and an unused clubhouse building, which would be razed.

A quarter-acre of the property is in the Town of Oyster Bay, the rest is in Huntington Township.

Artis is proposing a 30,882-square-foot, one-story building on the property, which would be accessed via Woodbury Road.

Plans also include 63 parking spaces, 19 of which would be land banked stalls, according to plans received by the Huntington Planning Department in November.

Town code requires 16 parking stalls for the proposed use.

The assisted living facility would be “oriented towards people with memory care problems,” according to planning department officials.

The Huntington Planning Board, in a meeting last week, suggested the town board consider several conditions for the zone change, including that the building be limited to one-story in height, that the existing landscape buffers remain in place and that the landscaping and irrigation be designed to reduce water use on the property.

If approved by the town board, the current zone change application would require a building setback variance from the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals.

A public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m., Aug. 7 at town hall.