Babylon planning board closes hearing, reserves decision on proposed 5,032-square-foot mixed‑use building in Copiague

A public hearing before the Town of Babylon Planning Board on Feb. 3 drew residents, business representatives and emergency responders to discuss a proposal for a three‑story, 5,032‑square‑foot mixed‑use building on the west side of Great Neck Road, about 65 feet south of Oak Street in the hamlet of Copiague.

The applicant seeks site plan approval (job/application referenced in the hearing record) to construct retail and office space on the first floor — including a deli proposed to relocate from 515 Oak Street — and 19 apartments (six studios and 13 one‑bedrooms) on the second and third floors. The proposal would retain an existing two‑story, three‑car garage with an office above. The property is described in the application as a 25,095‑square‑foot lot with 145 feet of frontage on Great Neck Road.

The plan calls for 28 on‑site parking spaces; the Babylon code’s off‑street parking schedule produces a 31‑space requirement for the mix of uses. The applicant requested a waiver for three spaces (roughly 10 percent) under the zoning code’s district shared‑parking provision (Babylon zoning code section 2‑13‑5‑48(b)), which allows up to a 20 percent reduction when qualifying on‑ and off‑street shared parking is available within 500 feet.

The applicant’s attorney, Nicole Blanda of Bizzell, Blanda & Visconti, and a traffic engineer from Nelson & Pope presented the plans and the technical analyses. Traffic and parking counts were conducted May 18 and May 21, 2022, and the consultant reported weekday morning, weekday evening and Saturday midday observations; the consultant said at least 49 parking spaces were observed available within the 500‑foot study area at the times counted. Nelson & Pope’s analysis, presented by Osman Barry, concluded that applying shared‑parking assumptions reduces the peak parking demand for the combined uses to fewer than the 28 spaces proposed and that the project would not materially worsen traffic delay in the study area as modeled.

Residents and local business and civic representatives spoke at the hearing. Several raised traffic congestion and safety concerns along Great Neck Road and Oak Street during commute and midday peak periods, and questioned whether nearby public and on‑street parking would be reliably available for new residents and retail customers. George Schonwalder Jr., who identified his business address on Montauk Highway, said the corridor is already congested and that adding apartments has strained roadway capacity: "It's overrun," he said.

Representatives of the Copiague Fire Department and other residents said increased traffic and new multi‑unit buildings have lengthened emergency response times and added to EMS call volumes. Frank Gia Russo, who said he represented the Copiague Fire Department, described how congestion can delay responses and increase risk, saying, "In that 7 or 8 minutes that we're being delayed, that little bedroom fire is now out the door into your living room." The applicant and planning staff said they would coordinate with the town fire marshal and other departments as the review continues.

Other questions from speakers and board members covered delivery and service vehicle movements, the proposed on‑site loading area behind the building (designed to keep deliveries off Great Neck Road), handicap parking compliance with the New York State Building Code, the duration and timing of the counts used for the parking and traffic study, and a town‑requested covenant to allow future cross‑access to the lots immediately south (identified in the application materials as tax map lots 45.8 and 45.1). The applicant said the deli operator currently uses box trucks and that deliveries would use the on‑site loading area rather than making deliveries on Great Neck Road.

The application materials show a reduced footprint and density compared with a prior 2023 proposal: the current plan is about 1,900 square feet smaller than the earlier 6,932‑square‑foot submission, removes one commercial tenant (now one retail and two office spaces rather than four), and reduces the unit count to 19 (the applicant told the board that 20 units is the zone’s maximum for the lot area). The applicant also reported removing about 2,000 square feet of building area and reducing the parking shortfall from an earlier 15‑space variance request to the current three‑space waiver request.

After the public comment period and presentations, a board member moved to close the public hearing and reserve decision for further review; another member seconded the motion and the board voted in favor. The board said the record would remain open for written comments and that planners and the applicant will follow up on traffic, engineering and site‑plan details before the board renders a decision.

The planning department said application documents and plans are available for inspection at the Town Hall West Wing during business hours; written comments may be submitted to the planning office by phone or email (contact information given at the hearing).