Roberts Plywood submitted a site-plan application Sept. 8 asking the Town of Babylon Planning Board to allow construction of a 22,632-square-foot warehouse and an 11,290-square-foot open-sided canopy adjacent to an active railroad spur on a 5.5-acre parcel in the Deer Park industrial park. Attorney Tom Abbate, project engineer Christopher Voorhees and architect Giovanni Coelho described circulation improvements and safety measures intended to support deliveries from the rail spur.

The proposal matters because the rail spur runs through the middle of the site and is an active freight line used for deliveries several times a week. Abbate told the board the spur “is not a dormant track. This is an active freight line,” and said the canopy would protect employees and materials during offloading. Voorhees said the canopy will be open-sided and primarily “protecting the material and employees from weather.”

Under the plan, the new warehouse would be placed on the northwest quadrant of the property, with truck circulation changed to a mostly counterclockwise, one-way pattern and improved pull-off and queuing areas for inbound trucks and visitors. Voorhees said the site will retain multiple access points and that the rail spur’s branch can accommodate about three to four railcars for loading adjacent to an elevated loading platform that serves the warehouse roll‑up doors.

Roberts Plywood representatives told the board the expansion is mainly for storage; they said the business does not perform wood fabrication on-site but receives materials and fills orders. The existing building is about 62,000 square feet with approximately 2,800 square feet of office space. Counsel said the project would terminate a current container-storage agreement with an adjacent neighbor and preserve an existing access easement on the south side of the property.

The applicant said the project will require three forms of relief from the Zoning Board of Appeals: reduction in required off‑street parking, a front‑yard parking setback variance caused by an angled “spout” of the lot that provides the public roadway connection, and relief for a second primary building on the lot because the spur bisects the property. The applicant estimated the expansion would add up to about 10 employees to current staffing levels and that vendor/customer hours would be 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays, with employees on site until about 9 p.m.; no weekend operations were proposed.

No members of the public spoke at the hearing. The board voted to close the public hearing and reserve its decision to allow the record to remain open for written comments and to give staff time to review outstanding plan details and any public feedback. The record will remain open for written comments to the Planning Department; application documents are available at Town Hall during business hours or by contacting planningcomments@townofbabylonny.gov.

The board and applicant noted a further required step: the Zoning Board of Appeals must consider specific variances before municipal approvals, and any approvals may be voided if information submitted with the application is later found inaccurate. The planning memo from the planning commissioner dated Sept. 2 remains part of the record and the applicant said it had been reviewed and that the applicant agrees to the listed conditions and covenants.